Name: How to Steal a Car
ISBN: 9780545113182

Pete Hautman

Fifteen-year-old, suburban high school student Kelleigh, who has her learner's permit, recounts how she began stealing cars one summer, for reasons that seem unclear even to her.

How to Steal a Car

Amy Grieve

To kick off my summer reading I decided to immerse myself in some danger. This summer I have decided to try read a lot more YA contemporary so I thought that I should begin in the way I intend to continue.

Hautman created a believable narrative despite the situations that the protagonist of the novel, Kelleigh, finds herself in. Although the reasons why Kelleigh stole cars is not reasonable it does make the reader sympathetic. Kelleigh's voice was also engaging because she did not sugar coat things like her feelings towards her best friend or the reality of living with her parents. 

It was a nice way to start off my summer reading mainly because it was short which allowed me to finish it in one sitting and the open ending allowed for speculation, which may irritate some readers but personally it felt like a true way to end the story.