Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Blue Plate Special
    Unavailable
    Blue Plate Special
    Unavailable
    Blue Plate Special
    Ebook395 pages4 hours

    Blue Plate Special

    By Michelle D. Kwasney

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Doomed loves, failed families, nixed dreamssomeone else's leftovers are heaped on our plates the day we come into this world.

    Big Macs and pop tunes mask the emptiness as Madeline watches her mom drink away their welfare checks. Until the day Tad, a quirky McDonald's counter boy, asks Madeline out for a date, and she gets her first taste of normal. But with a life thats anything but, how long can normal really last?

    Hanging with Jeremy, avoiding Mam, sticking Do Not Disturb Post-its on her heart, Desiree's mission is simple: party hard, graduate (well, maybe), get out of town. But after Desiree accepts half a meatball grinder, a cold drink, and a ride from her mother's boyfriend one rainy afternoon, nothing is ever simple again.

    Too many AP classes. Workaholic mom. Dad in prison. Still, Ariel's sultry new boyfriend, Shane, manages to make even the worst days delicious. But when an unexpected phone call forces a trip to visit a sick grandmother she's never met, revealing her family's dark past, Ariel struggles to find the courage to make the right choice for her own future.

    As three girls from three different decades lives converge, they discover they are connected ways they could never imagine. Each of them finds strength that brings her closer to healing a painful past, and faith that there is a happier future.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChronicle Books Digital
    Release dateOct 21, 2011
    ISBN9781452104119
    Unavailable
    Blue Plate Special

    Related to Blue Plate Special

    Related ebooks

    YA Social Themes For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Book The Good Sister

      Oct 29, 2020

      Laced with her usual quirky humour, sass and darkly charming tone, Australian author Sally Hepworth brings her latest tome – tipped to be her breakout – to shelves. Delivering a knockout novel about the lies that bind two sisters, Hepworth tells the

      1 min read

    • Article

      'Dread Nation' Is A Rollicking 'Gone With The Wind + Zombies' Adventure

      Apr 20, 2018

      But don't underestimate the latest YA novel by activist Justina Ireland – it's also a biting commentary on contemporary race relations in America.

      3 min read

    • Article

      4 Delightful New Books For Middle-grade Readers

      Jun 7, 2018

      History, fantasy, humor, and drama mingle in these four wonderful new books for middle-grade readers – out just in time for summer reading.

      3 min read

    • Article

      You Exist Too Much

      Jun 5, 2020

      You Exist Too Much
      9 min read

    • Article

      Swisher Sweets

      May 1, 2022

      Swisher Sweets
      17 min read

    • Article

      Tomorrows

      Mar 15, 2022

      The night, as most nights, was like a dream. At ten, once I’d fed the dog the last scraps off the stove. Once I’d cursed the cat for scratching up my mama’s antique furniture, then welcomed him back into my arms. Once I’d slicked my hair into a ponyt

      26 min read

    • Article

      The Man I Should Have Married

      Dec 29, 2019

      The Man I Should Have Married
      11 min read

    • Article

      Present Tense

      Sep 4, 2018

      Present Tense
      10 min read

    • Article

      'Tis The Season

      Nov 2, 2022

      'Tis The Season
      2 min read

    • Article

      Seedlings

      May 6, 2021

      Seedlings
      9 min read

    • Article

      Tis The Season

      Nov 2, 2022

      Tis The Season
      2 min read

    • Article

      Blackberries

      Apr 5, 2023

      Blackberries
      24 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reads

      Dec 30, 2019

      Summer Reads
      7 min read

    • Article

      Benzo Mama

      Sep 7, 2021

      Benzo Mama
      30 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Nov 1, 2021

      I have an endless appetite for starfruit,for biting my teeth into the universe and spitting outthe space junk, for licking the rings of my favorite planetsand never slicing my tongue. There’s a story I shareabout my birth where angels circle my dead

      2 min read

    • Article

      Remembering My Mother

      May 20, 2021

      Remembering My Mother
      4 min read

    • Article

      Dressing with Care

      Jun 11, 2021

      Dressing with Care
      6 min read

    • Article

      Evidence

      Mar 6, 2023

      Evidence
      25 min read

    • Article

      The Fortune Teller

      Jul 10, 2021

      My head has a liquid feel to it as I stumble down the street. The bottle of red wine in my belly making it seem like my limbs have become balloons, and at any moment they might float away. Next to me, Michael has a stupid whiskey grin stretched acros

      18 min read

    • Article

      Little House

      Jun 5, 2023

      On Monday nights our mother made popcorn and served it to us in mugs with milk poured over. My younger sister and I carried our mugs into the family room and ate the popcorn with spoons, like cereal. We were five and seven. Until we were allowed to s

      21 min read

    • Article

      The Space Between Us

      Oct 9, 2019

      The Space Between Us
      8 min read

    • Article

      Heave’s Whisky

      Feb 27, 2024

      Heave’s Whisky
      7 min read

    • Article

      Cricket Ceague

      Apr 1, 2019

      Penelope Berkeley, age 9 Mars Hill, NC Night had fallen, and Luna awoke from where she had been sleeping in a cornfield. She moved steadily through the stalks with barely a sound, keeping her eyes on the glittering glass rooftop of the greenhouse in

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Face I’ll Never Forget

      Jun 25, 2022

      The Face I’ll Never Forget
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Problem with My Dachshund

      Dec 11, 2019

      The Problem with My Dachshund
      10 min read

    • Article

      Four Poems

      Mar 1, 2024

      I was trying to look a little less like myselfand more like other humans, humans who belonged, so I put on a skort.Purchased in another life, when I had a husband and wrote thank-you notes and held dinner parties,the skort even had its own little poc

      6 min read

    Reviews for Blue Plate Special

    4/5

    3 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      This wound up being my final book of the year. This little gem was number 100. I saw this on a list for teens, made by teens, for my library (I try to keep up with what they're talking about). I enjoyed this book a great deal. One of the girls sections was even written in free verse. You know that's been my thing lately. Anyway, for all of their differences, these girls had undercurrents of similarities. You know we're all more alike than we realize. They were all very different people though. The times were different and I thought that part was really cool too. I had my favorites of the girls, but loved their stories individually and the meshing of them as well. I kept thinking, now I know these girls have to be linked in some way. It took awhile, but did start becoming clear. However, there was one final link between all of them that I never saw coming. It was like lightning out of a clear blue sky. Where did that come from?! It was awesome! Hats off to Ms. Kwasney for sneaking that one in there and blowing me away with it. I loved this book because it told you that while yes, we come into life with leftovers, it's all in how you use them. It told girls that it's okay to value who you are and NOT allow yourself to be abused or taken advantage of. It spoke to the strength of women, whether we know it or not. We, as women tend to sell ourselves short or let ourselves feel 'less than'. This book celebrates women in all of their flawed, broken, but still amazingly strong states. And the cover is very cool really. I'm giving it 5 kisses!
    • 4/5
      Writing a review without disclosing too much is somewhat difficult. Rolling out three running stories of three young women, Blue Plate Special is a treat. Its horrible ingredients of an alcoholic pill popper, a victim of child rape, and a young lady caught in a controlling relationship swirl together to create a wonderfully bitter meal. Order up.
    • 4/5
      This was an amazing read. In the 1970's Madeline spends all of her time taking care of her alcoholic mother, making no life of her own until it is almost too late. In 1999 Desiree's mother ignores her, unless it's to criticize. When she is raped by her mother's boyfriend, everyone's life is forever changed. Ariel is being raised by her mother. Ariel's boyfriend Shane wants just a little bit too much from her. The chapters alternate in each young woman's voice and Desiree's story is written in a different format, although it is still prose.

      The book follows three seperate teenagers each about 15 years apart. Over the course of their stories, you realize that the girls are related. The reader is able to see how the previous generation's experiences affect the future's, both for the negative and the positive. This story really focuses on realizing how chains of events are set into being. They also serve as a reminder that no one's life is easy and sometimes people just don't know how to handle what is thrown at them.