Jail Bait by Leslea Newman

For those who don't know jail bait is an under aged kid in a relationship with an adult. If the kid turns on the adult then the adult goes to jail. Andi is fat, lonely and has her own tormentor at school. She avoids the bus and walks home for school instead. She stops along the road each day and talks to and feeds a cow she calls Bessie. A guy in a beat up Volkswagen sees her there and eventually makes contact. A relationship developes. There are two buts. First he holds her hostage, to his wishes because he has stolen her mother's wedding ring and has promised to give it back on her 17th birthday. Second, at the outset he is careful of her and proceeds slowly but this changes and the relationship is all about his needs. Andi doesn't really care for this. He seems better than home or school to her though and a promise to run away to the south is enticing. Andi's move to maturity happens all at once in the last few pages of the book and seems too fast. A side story about the relationship between her brother and herself and her brother's problems fizzles out. Still, a young girl falling for an older man is a timeless story and its told mostly quite well.
jdw 11/21/07