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Product Description
Fourteen-year-old Harley Columba is convinced she's adopted. She's nothing like her abusive, alcoholic father or her bitter, romance novel-reading mother. They have brown eyes, but Harley's eyes are blue. They argue and drink and thrive in dreary suburbia while Harley paints, writes poetry, and longs for a different family and a better life. But then she finds a new, startling piece of evidence: a harlequin doll that's been hidden away for years, with a note around its neck: "Papa loves you forever and a day." Now Harley has genuine hope--hope that she can escape the chaos of the Columba household. Hope that she can find her real father.
Tough, funny, and refreshingly honest, Harley, Like a Person is a compelling story of family, the power of creativity, and the enduring strength of self.
Amazon.com Review
"'What was your name again?'
'Harley... Harley Columba.'
'Harley. Like the motorcycle, eh?'
'No, Harley, like a person.'"
Fourteen-year-old Harley is dead sure that "drunken dragon and his fire-breathing wife" she shares a house with cannot be her real parents. And when she finds a doll with a 12-year-old note signed "Papa loves you forever and a day"--not in her father's handwriting--she knows she's on to something. Her academic and social life begins to spiral down as she pursues her genetic mystery and rebels against her restrictive parents. Soon she's alienated her best friend, hooked up with a drug-dealing crowd, and is watching her grades plummet. Only her remarkable talent as an artist (and the recognition of this ability by a few adults) keeps her from spinning completely out of control. But this Harley won't stop until she's reached her destination--or runs out of fuel trying. Cat Bauer's powerful first novel of a defiant adolescent girl's search for identity, both creative and personal, will ring true for teenagers everywhere. She hits on all the hot topics: identity, family relationships, drug and alcohol abuse, school achievement, domestic and emotional violence, friendship, sex, and love. (Ages 12 and older) --Emilie Coulter
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