The Bridge Home, by Padma Venkatraman

This was a sad but lovely middle-grade novel about sisterhood and friendship and poverty and hope. 

I found a few things unrealistic, and the whole setup with the book being written by a character in the book to a character in the book was a little clunky at times, but overall the writing was good.

The setting and situations were interesting and eye-opening—especially about the trash collecting.  The main characters were lovable. 

I would read more by Padma Venkatraman. 

Warning:  abuse and death.  Parents might want to read along with kids.