The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson

May Gold's father died a year ago and her family hasn't been the same ever since. The only constant in her life is her father's old Pontiac Firebird which continues to sit in the garage, untouched since he died. Her older sister gets drunk every night, while her younger sister sits like a zombie in front of the television. May's mother, who works nights, depends on May to hold everyone together. Part of being responsible is that she's expected to get her driver's license and help shoulder some responsibility. Unfortunately for May, she's lacking in driving ability and the only person who will teacher her is her old childhood nemesis and next-door neighbor, Pete. Suddenly, driving isn't quite so bad anymore and she finds that the single car key opens up a world of discovery.

Maureen Johnson's covers are pure crack, I tell you! I was at a bookstore this weekend and picked up this book and another one by her and couldn't put them down. They were just so bright and shiny! There's not a dud in the bunch.

I really enjoyed this book. It was such a quick read, but it didn't feel like one. I was so into what was going on that I completely lost track of both time and page numbers. Usually (though not always) a quick read means a short happy fluffy way to pass the time, but this was more than that.

May's voice was so great. She's so sarcastic and witty. She presents this sort of hard exterior shell, but inside she's still reeling from her father's death and about to crack from the strain of her family's complete 180 over the past year. I totally related to the way she would think things she'd like to people, but doesn't, and then ends up letting them walk all over her.

One of the things I love about Maureen Johnson's books are her well rounded portrayals of sibling relationships -something I'm sure I'll cover in more detail after I re-read and finally review Suite Scarlett. In just a few pages I felt I understood so much about May and her sisters' history together. Each has a defined personality and each is dealing with her father's behavior differently. They're at each other's throats a lot, but when they're not the in-jokes start flying and it's great fun.

Obviously, I couldn't get threw this without mentioning the love story. It combined two of my favorite love story cliches: fighting until you realize you're in love and falling for the one you've known your whole life. Yes, I'm so full of cheese Wisconsin just declared me a state landmark. But really, even though I enjoyed it, I was glad that it didn't make up the bulk of the book. So many books are about the girl mooning over the guy. May has other things to do.

The Key to the Golden Firebird is a little sad, a little romantic, and a great fun. If you don't believe me, just pick it up in a bookstore and stare at the cover for a while. That'll convince you.

http://thechickmanifesto.blogspot.com/2009/08/key-to-golden-firebird-by-maureen.html