Deborah's Books: Review: All About Daisy by O'Dell Hutchison

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Review: All About Daisy by O'Dell Hutchison

Daisy would love nothing more than to forget the past three years spent in middle school being tortured, and start high school as a popular girl who has it all. The problem is, Daisy doesn’t have it all. She’s off to a nightmarish start, but that doesn’t deter her from reaching for her dreams of popularity, via a spot on the cheerleading squad.

When Daisy meets up with an old crush and is unexpectedly befriended by some popular girls, she thinks her luck has finally changed.

When a shattering betrayal shakes her world, Daisy is close to giving up. With a renewed sense of determination, Daisy reaches for the stars and finds that even though her world isn’t perfect, she doesn’t have to pretend to be someone else. She can be happy as Daisy Rose Brown.

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There is such a raw sense of honest emotion that courses through this book, it’s sometimes very difficult to read (in a good way). Daisy is constantly bullied. Her mother died years before, just when she started to need her most. Her best friend, Margaret, is a 23-year-old woman with a mental disability. Her brother has a shocking family secret. Her father works hard to provide for the family, and in doing so, plays absent most days and nights. All of these things equal a brave girl trying to find her way into the vicious jungle of teenage-hood.

I sincerely loved the messages of this book. I loved the significance of loving one’s self no matter what. I also loved the moral of accepting others and their differences. I was so rooting for Daisy the whole book!

Daisy has some naivety about a lot of things, and it was sometimes hard to believe. There are some crass parts that I think are inappropriate for the book and readers, but my copy is an older version. I think the author was revising some of those parts. There is also some language content as well.