Life Riddles

At twelve, Janelle wants nothing more than to be a writer. "Write what you know," advises her aunt Barbara. That seems like a riddle to Janelle: all she knows is her mama and her two little sisters, playing Pioneers when the electricity gets cut off, waiting and hoping for Daddy to find a job and come back home. Who'd want to read about a life like that?

But as Janelle starts putting it all on paper, she finds she does have something to say–about friendship, about getting through, and most o...