Roadside Attraction

by M.G. Higgins

Logan's grandparents own a store in the middle of nowhere. He's devoted to them, even to the point of giving up his own dreams. Until one hitchhiker changes it all. Brooke. She's young. Too young to be alone. As Logan watches, she shoplifts. After chasing her down, he realizes hitchhiking is the least of Brooke's issues. Not knowing why, Logan is drawn to her. He insists on driving the young teen to her grandmother's in Oklahoma. What begins as a road trip ends with life-altering realizations. About family. Obligations. Forgiveness.
From the Great Plains to the borderlands to the Mississippi Delta, rural America is struggling. The population is shrinking. And the economy is shifting away from agriculture. Without a safety net, rural families struggle with depression, drug abuse, alcoholism, and other problems. Gravel Road Rural addresses the contemporary issues affecting rural America in an unflinching way.

109 pages, Paperback

Published May 17, 2016

Reviews

[Madison]

I'd rate this book an 8/10 because, books like this one you can really get into it leaves you with a mystery. There's a guy named logan and he works with his grandparents in there store out in the middle of nowhere. He takes care of his dad and Logan's mom left them when his dad got sick. Logan meets a girl named brooke while she was hitchhiking and gave her a ride to see her grandmother in mexico witch was far from where he lived. But Logan still took Brooke there even though she was rude to him. On there little roadtrip they had some really big downs, she cuts and stole stuff and also ran off a couple of times. As they reach her grandmothers house her grandmother gives Logan $800 for taking Brooke to her. When Logan leaves he gets a call from Brooke begging him to come back and that she was going to do somwthing bad. When his phone dies he drives to the house and see's ambulances everywhere and the grandmother told him that Brooke has cut her self bad. He leaves but later on gets a text from her saying that she's alright and says thank you.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roadside Attraction is about a boy Logan he is in a family business while also taking care of his ill dad. One day he was at his grandparents store he noticed this girl who came in she didn't look very well taking care. Logan being Logan he followed her around the store, he sees her steal so when she starts walking out the door he follows her out to the side of the road. This is where he starts a whole new journey....

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for more mature teens. Easy to read, but has a lot of mature content. I wouldn't let most of my grade sixes read it, but the 7's and 8's could. There is talk of rape, sex, drinking, drugs, cutting. The main character is a nice guy, the main female, ends up getting help.

[Jadyn Heinz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roadside Attraction by M.G Higgins, is about a teenage boy, Logan, who lives a very simple life. He works at his Grandparents gas station on the side of a highway. When he is not working, he is taking care of his father, who suffers from brain trauma from an accident. Logan went to work on an average day, when a young girl walks into the store, who goes by the name of Brooke. Logan gets suspicious when she walks in with a duffle bag, and keeps an eye on her to see if she will shoplift. When Brooke turns out to be a theft, Logan runs after her and he soons learns she is homeless and is a hitchhiker. Out of pity, Logan goes into the store and pays for the stolen items. Hours later, logan is still thinking about Brooke, he sets out to the highway to look for her to help her out. When Logan finds Brooke, he offers a ride to her destination. Brooke agrees and Logan ends up driving Brooke her grandma's house, who lives at least a days worth of traveling away. Logan realizes things about Brooks family that is strange. What I liked about this book is it was a fast read so it did not take long to read. There was a lot I did not like about this book. It was very repetitive and boring at most parts, I felt like this book had no purpose. I would recommend this book to young teens, because it was a very easy book to understand. Overall I would give this book 6/10.

[Ryan Stanek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Logan's grandparents own a store in the middle of nowhere. He's devoted to them, even to the point of giving up his own dreams. Until one hitchhiker changes it all. Brooke. She's young. Too young to be alone. As Logan watches, she shoplifts. After chasing her down, he realizes hitchhiking is the least of Brooke's issues. Not knowing why, Logan is drawn to her. He insists on driving the young teen to her grandmother's in Oklahoma. What begins as a road trip ends with life-altering realizations. About family. Obligations. Forgiveness. From the Great Plains to the borderlands to the Mississippi Delta, rural America is struggling. The population is shrinking. And the economy is shifting away from agriculture. Without a safety net, rural families struggle with depression, drug abuse, alcoholism, and other problems. Gravel Road Rural addresses the contemporary issues affecting rural America in an unflinching way. I really liked the story line. The characters are a great choice. I didn’t like how rude Brooke was the whole trip until the end.

[Yvonne Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

For reluctant teen readers. A story of an 18 year old stuck and a girl run away with problems of her own. The boy steps in to drive her to her grandmothers and along the way finds himself.
The story could use a little more meat to it. Some details about both teens back ground, why they are on their particular path.

[Chris Landor]

I think the book is kind of freaky because he seen the girl walking into their store and she was shoplifting and when he walked outside to retrieve the things she had stole she disappeared but then he seen her again so he got the food and water that she stole and then realized how hot it was outside and went back in the store and bought a hat for her to wear to protect her skin because she already had a sunburn so then she went on her way later that day it was getting close to closing time and he was locking up the store then hopes to see her again so he rides around looking for her because he knows that she has no where to go

[Serina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never understood why he would stick to her for long especially after she made it clear multiple times she didn't want his help. Could have really explored Brooke's situation of why running away and why cutting self. Instead the ending was on whether the boy should have a better career. Then there is a wrap up of him resolving things with his mom. However you don't get to experience that instead its just an information dump. So basically all the things that would have interesting to focus got skipped over.