Wake up call.
Putting things in perspective.
Disturbing, touching, motivating.
What really matters in life?
Babo, a.k.a. Betti knows she is pretty on the inside. She knows her (unnamed) country is constantly under attack and in the midst of war. The people from her country are "broken," and the Melons (foreigners, Americans?) that come to her country to adopt children only pick the pretty on the outside kids to "save."
Babo is okay with that. She has settled in her abandoned circus camp with all the other left-over kids, who all seem to be missing toes, fingers or arms (most of the people left in her country are like that). Babo is waiting for her circus parents to return so she does everything in her power to keep herself at the circus camp (including getting the other left over kids in dirty trouble.
At some point, a couple of Melons see beneath Babo's rough exterior, and decide to adopt her.
And so begins Babo's adaptation (a word she has associated with adoption, America is a crazy place, and the new "family" she doesn't want has prisoners in the television).
What was most difficult about reading this story was that Betti's country could be MANY countries RIGHT NOW. In fact, the author is very clear why she doesn't give the country a name. Combined with Babo Betti's Big Mouth story telling, the reality of her situation makes it a story that is a lot easier to swallow. However, that break from reality doesn't make this novel any easier to put down. I laughed on one page and let out sobs on another. After I was finally able to go to sleep (too much thinking "what exactly can I do") I awoke with a sense of the grand scheme of things. Let me make my little difference, and speak up to injustices I see, and recommend this book to ANYONE who will read it.
Make sure you have some tissues, and someone who you can talk to about this when you finish. But YOU MUST read this one!