By: Jamie Steinberg
Josephine is almost eleven years old and has just had her entire life uprooted after due to financial troubles. She is forced to move into a trailer park with her mom where she unexpectedly makes friends with a teenage girl a few trailers down. This friendship reveals a secret held by the trailer park about a missing young girl – one that Josephine is determined to solve. Sweetness All Around is sort of a misnomer here as the book highlights a bit of darkness in the world, but I believe it alludes to the fact that even in those unfortunate moments there are still reasons to smile, moments to be happy for and people who matter.
Josephine is not happy. She’s recently been forced to move into a trailer park called Happy World with her mother, a seamstress, after losing their home from financial troubles. She misses her former life desperately, but thankfully she gets a distraction in the form of a teenage girl as her neighbor, Lisa Marie. Lisa Marie explains that Happy World isn’t so happy as one of their neighbors, ten-year-old Molly, was kidnapped by her father and his mother, leaving this young girl’s mom distraught and penniless. A headstrong Jopsehine gets a bee in her bonnet and she is determined to bring this young girl back to her mother, which could mean going behind her own mother’s back and running off to Florida.
The best parts of Sweetness All Around is the friendship between Josephine and Lisa Marie and between Josephine and her mother. Author Suzanne Supplee crafts a true, deep and loving bond between this mother-daughter duo and a true, honest friendship between Lisa and Josephine. They have their disagreements when Josephine gets a bit jealous, but the connection between these two is clearly there and is likely to be lifelong. And it’s sweet to see Josephine’s mother dote on Lisa Marie, who has never had a mother figure in her life.
Where I think Supplee’s story dips a bit is with Josephine’s investigation into Molly’s disappearance. Within days it goes from hearing about what happened to trying to snag more details from Lisa Marie’s family to a postcard that could hold a hidden message to then suddenly Josephine is using some money to grab a bus ticket on a hunch for where Molly might be held. With that plan thwarted, Josephine’s mother agrees to take Josephine, Molly’s mom and Lisa Marie on a car trip to see if this idea holds weight. Also, with barely any money in their pockets, I don’t think it’s likely they would have the finances for gas, lodgings and food – even with a bit of pocket change from the other trailer park residents.
Sweetness All Around begins as a tale of friendship and then quickly shifts to a mystery that must be solved. Turn the pages to become the third wheel in Josephine and Lisa Marie’s friendship and stick around to see if Molly makes it home.