We make our meek adjustments,
Contented with such random consolations
As the wind deposits
In slithered and too ample pockets.

For we can still love the world, who find
A famished kitten on the step, and know
Recesses for it from the fury of the street,
Or warm torn elbow coverts.

- from Chaplinesque by Hart Crane

Read the poem in its entirety here.

Learn more about Poetry Friday.

Sophie at Pop Goes the Library requested good clean reads for a thirteen year old girl who had "little interest in clothes, makeup and to a lesser degree, boys." As my regular readers know, I live for questions such as these. Here is my response:

MIDDLE SCHOOL LIFE
Sixth Grade Secrets by Louis Sachar
The Girls by Amy Goldman Koss
The Misfits by James Howe
The Agony of Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Shug by Jenny Han
Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis
Multiple titles from Scholastic's Candy Apple imprint
Multiple titles from Aladdin's MiX imprint

HISTORY AND CLASSICS
Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery
White Fang by Jack London
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Lawson
Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller by Sarah Miller

MYSTERY AND INTRIGUE
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
A Doll in the Garden by Mary Downing Hahn
Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassedy
Various books by John Bellairs

FAMILY DRAMA
The Steps by Rachel Cohn
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Where I'd Like to Be by Frances O'Roark Dowell
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
Homecoming (and the rest of the Tillerman Cycle) by Cynthia Voigt
The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin
(NOTE: Homecoming and The Rules of Survival are much "heavier" that the other titles listed above.)

IN AND OUT OF CONTROL
Snap by Alison McGhee
Tru Confessions by Janet Tashjian
A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass

SUPER SUPERNATURAL SERIES
The OutCast quartet by Christopher Golden and Thomas E. Sniegoski
The Uglies books by Scott Westerfeld
The Midnighters trilogy by Scott Westerfeld
The Keys To The Kingdom series by Garth Nix

Since the customer's daughter is an athlete, I would also refer her to my booklist called Hey There, Sports Fan.

Sophie asked specifically about the book Ida B., so I wanted to recommend additional books of a similar nature:

LOSS OF PARENTS
So B. It by Sarah Weeks
With You and Without You by Ann M. Martin
Amalee by Dar Williams
- Sequel: Lights, Camera, Amalee
Pictures of Hollis Wood by Patricia Reilly Griff
Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown
Pieces of Georgia by Jennifer Bryant
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass

Related Booklists:
Middle School Must-Haves
If Then for Middle School
Quick Reads and Short Stories
Suggested Sets
Tough Issues for Teens