The Holy Terror

4.5 stars!This is the newest Newbery Medal Award Winner and I had actually wanted to read it before it had been nominated. This is a cleverly written "slice of life" tale that transcends age, gender, and race and is a great story that anyone and everyone can enjoy.This book twists and turns and meanders about in such a fascinating way that you're quickly pulled into Miranda's and her friends' lives and what it's like to grow up in New York in the late '70s. Some of the observations that the author made were so random yet nostalgic for me that I felt transported back to elementary school. I connected with the characters in a way that doesn't happen all that often with children's books for me anymore, and I'm not sure if that's because I'm getting older or if I'm just not reading that many great children's books anymore. This sort of reminded me of how I felt when I read Roald Dahl; he didn't dumb things down for kids and he knew how to write a great story.The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars was because of the main conclusion at the end. I think I wanted something a little more realistic and I was hoping the author was going to tie things up in a different way than I saw playing out. Don't get me wrong though, the end didn't spoil the book for me, I just felt like things could have gone differently.I think a lot of people will enjoy this book for years to come; it's funny, heart-warming, at times sad, and has a great mystery as well. This is one book that I can say is totally deserving of its award!