All We Had by Annie Weatherwax

The main characters of All We Had by Annie Weatherwax are a young girl, 13 year-old Ruthie, and her Mom, Rita who struggle against extreme poverty.  In this powerful debut novel, they move around with garbage bags for suitcases; rely mainly on men for help and housing and do not eat well (favoring Diet Cokes and donuts). The Mom is almost always smoking and reaching for reassurance from the lipstick which she keeps in her oversized handbag.

As the novel opens, they head East from California; the road trip aspects of this novel help to propel it along and Ruthie's voice drew me in. The duo eventually finds jobs in Fat River, a town in middle America which comes upon hard times with the 2008 recession. Weatherwax vividly describes life in poverty (dead squirrel in the leaky ceiling, mice, bugs), sub-prime loans, and the threat of homelessness ….  Yet, as small town America is wont to do, Fat River is a caring community, especially Peter Pam (transgender waitress at the local diner), Miss Frankfurt, the high school principal, and the Hansons, elderly owners of the local hardware store.

What were my immediate connections as I read All We Had? One is this week’s Economist article, "Choose Your Parents Wisely" and its graph about effective parenting which appears in this posting. I think Weatherwax would ask, "How much do circumstances dictate our choices?" Another connection was today's Wall Street Journal on "Start Early to Raise Money Savvy Kids" by Beth Kobliner who writes about the website MoneyAsYouGrow.org  (a site also recommended by the American Library Association).  The lessons on financial literacy such as "want is not the same as need" definitely apply to Ruthie and Rita's choices, especially their trip to the local Wal-Mart, a simultaneously sad and amusing Weatherwax observation on their economic situation and survival. 

Although there are a few mature scenes involving the Mom and her male friends and plenty of profanity, Ruthie's coming of age story and the mother-daughter relationship issues in All We Had will appeal to mature teens. A relatively quick and provocative read,  All We Had by award-winning Annie Weatherwax is an important commentary on today's American society which seems to be increasingly fragmented by class.

Expected publication date: August 5, 2014.