It's Only Temporary

By Sally Warner

A novel in words and sketches. ?It's only temporary,? twelve-year-old Skye McPhee writes in her sketchbook after being shipped off to her gran's in Sierre Madre, California. After all, her parents have their hands full taking care of her older brother, who's been severely injured in a car accident. So now Skye is in a new school sketching new kids and trying to stay invisible until she can return home. But her new life starts turning out better than she hoped; she's making cool friends, and being away from her brother is actually drawing her closer to him. And then her sketchbook disappears and everything changes. Suddenly, Skye realizes that she doesn't want her life in Sierra Madre to be temporary after all. But does she have a choice?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670061115
• ISBN13: 9780670061112
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Viking Children's Books
• Length: 182 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 9 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 4 and higher

Customer Reviews

Quirky & Genuine

A fun, enjoyable read. Kind of a cross between Harriet the Spy and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Skye McPhee has had a rough couple of months. Her older brother was in a terrible car accident and now needs the full-time care of their parents. To make life more manageable, Skye is sent to live with her grandmother in California. Skye consoles herself by detailing her life in her sketchbook, but when her sketchbook gets stolen, the friendships Skye has made in California are in major jeopardy. Skye and her group of friends are quite likeable, and the constant bickering between the jocks and the art kids is realistic. My only complaint with this novel would be that Skye gets her sketchbook back a little too easily. Certainly in my school, the jocks would have found a clandestine way to get back at Skye and her friends regardless of what the teachers had to say about it. Still, It's Only Temporary provides educators with a contemporary girl novel to assign while the boys are reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid (and yes, I know how terrible it is to label a particular novel as a girl or boy book, but it is appropriate in this case, I swear). For additional comments on this novel and other reviews, visit my site.