Snakes & Stones by Lisa Fowler

My name is Chestnut, and my Daddy stole us kids from our Mama. We been traveling around the country for two years now, and I'm gettin' tired of lyin' for him. We live out of a horse-drawn wagon, and he's cheatin' people by selling them his amazin' elixir. Heck, it's just a bottle of water and grass, and Daddy's been beaten by angry mobs when they find out. I don't know why he took us from Mama, but I know things'll be okay if I can find her. Daddy'd be plenty angry if he knew I been hangin' posters around towns we been in, but I know Mama will see'm and find us. I already know he don't love me, and he don't need any more reason to get mad at me. But we just met Abraham, a colored man from Daddy's past, and he sayin' things about Daddy that don't make any sense. He sayin' Daddy's a kind man who gives money to orphans, but that ain't right, is it?

This book told a nice story of a young girl who wanted nothing more than to be reunited with her mother. She was obsessed with it but didn't really understand the whole situation. Her father was a con man, and she didn't feel much love for him. He always provided for Chestnut and her siblings, but she didn't feel any closeness to him. The introduction of Abraham created new issues for her, as he described her father as a kind and generous man. The color of Abraham's skin also opened her eyes to injustices in society, as she saw how people treated him. In the end, it was pretty clear that Chestnut's plans to reunite her family was going to backfire. The only question was how bad would things get?