A review by allmadhere106
Harry Sue by Sue Stauffacher

4.0

Filled with _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ references. Harry Sue is a child whose father and mother are both in jail for various crimes. It is Harry Sue’s life goal to someday go to prison herself so that she may be reunited with her family. For now, she lives with her grandmother, an evil, self-centered woman who runs a day care and neglects everyone in her care. Over the course of the book, Harry Sue meets new characters and learns to trust people, even though she wants instead to harden herself for her future life in prison. Part of the joy that comes from reading the novel is finding all of the points that match with Baum’s text and Harry Sue is quick to point of some of them for the reader. Oz was the one book that her mother read to her before she was sent to prison so it becomes a connection that she is ready to highlight. However, not all of the allusions are made by the narrator and it is up to the reader to find them. Issues of ethics, identity, and abuse, though the tone makes the book extremely fun to read.