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Get Real
Dez is unusually neat. Her mom and dad are unusually messy. They like Cheez Whiz and swamps. Dez likes elegant food and grand pianos. How can she even be related to them? And how can Dez help her best friend, Jil, who's adopted and who will stop at nothing in order to meet her birth mom? What is it, exactly, that makes a parent "real," anyway? Get Real is about wanting a parent who is very different from the one you have. It's about discovering, "Who am I?"
- GenresFiction
192 pages, Hardcover
First published September 5, 2006
10 people want to read
About the author
Betty Hicks
27 books4 followersBetty Hicks has drawn on her experience and love for sports in Gym Shorts, her new series for seven to ten year-olds. Growing up, Betty enjoyed everything: basketball, swimming, softball, horseback riding, field hockey, ice skating, tennis, skiing, and more. As an adult, she’s an avid fan of college basketball and the Olympic Games, and, an average fan of just about everything else you can think of.
In Gym Shorts, Betty welcomed the opportunity to provide younger readers with books about different types of athletics—basketball, soccer, swimming, baseball, track, tennis—you name it! But she especially wanted to write books that weren’t just about the wins and losses on game day. Friendships, fears, school, parents, pets, homework—all the things that weave their way into the lives of kids who play sports—are a crucial part of every story.
Betty has also put her own single and stepparent experiences to good use in five additional books for eight to twelve year-olds. Depicting funny, true-to-life family situations, Betty brings laughter and meaning to the experiences of growing up, not just in a divorced family, but in any family.
Betty has a BA in English and an MFA in the Study and Writing of Children’s Literature from Hollins University. She has published stories in Highlights and Pockets magazines, is a member of The Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and has worked as a book reviewer for Children’s Literature.
She and her husband, Bill, live in Greensboro, North Carolina. She spends much of her non-writing time reading, traveling, playing golf, and pursuing her photography hobby. But her number one favorite pastime is hanging out with her five grandchildren. Not only do they bring her joy, they unknowingly give her exciting subjects and plots for every new book!
In Gym Shorts, Betty welcomed the opportunity to provide younger readers with books about different types of athletics—basketball, soccer, swimming, baseball, track, tennis—you name it! But she especially wanted to write books that weren’t just about the wins and losses on game day. Friendships, fears, school, parents, pets, homework—all the things that weave their way into the lives of kids who play sports—are a crucial part of every story.
Betty has also put her own single and stepparent experiences to good use in five additional books for eight to twelve year-olds. Depicting funny, true-to-life family situations, Betty brings laughter and meaning to the experiences of growing up, not just in a divorced family, but in any family.
Betty has a BA in English and an MFA in the Study and Writing of Children’s Literature from Hollins University. She has published stories in Highlights and Pockets magazines, is a member of The Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and has worked as a book reviewer for Children’s Literature.
She and her husband, Bill, live in Greensboro, North Carolina. She spends much of her non-writing time reading, traveling, playing golf, and pursuing her photography hobby. But her number one favorite pastime is hanging out with her five grandchildren. Not only do they bring her joy, they unknowingly give her exciting subjects and plots for every new book!
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 28, 2012
A great YA read and fast. I read it in a couple of hours. Nice break from my other books lately!
April 16, 2010
Teen reading challenge. A book about opening an adoption that includes no sense of what real open adoptions are often like (I mean, the girl's adoptive parents just start letting her spend every weekend an hour away with the first mom they'd kept her from knowing and nobody seems bothered or thinks therapy or something might be in order?). Other parts were equally unrealistic, including the poetry-quoting dad, who was totally unlike any classicist I've ever known and didn't even seem to have his Homeric epithets right. But it's not poorly written or anything. Teens could probably like it. I just don't.
January 3, 2010
Dez likes grand pianos and wants to live in a royal house full of only the finest. Dez`s parents like cheese whiz and Dez`s Mom`s favorite channel is the weather channel. Dez`s Dad is into poetry and how can she ever be related to these phsyco freaks? Dez`s best friend Jil is adopted and has the best parents ever: the Lewisis. Jil`s parents seem perfect. Only when Jil starts to hang out with her actual birth Mom then that changes well, everything. Dez is forced to go save her best friend from the worst birth Mom ever. This book shows that kids can be more real than parents. A must-read!
July 7, 2009
Thirteen year old neatnik lives with sloppy parents. Her best friend lives with wealthy and NEAT adopted parents. All is fine until her friend finds a way to contact her birth mother. Great story showing strong friendship and typical problems teens have with adults.
April 30, 2009
Certain girls will eat this story up- a story of friendship, parents, loyalty and truth. Destiny and Jil explore these topic and grow, after Jil discovers she was adopted.
August 10, 2009
yay this was really good!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews