Interesting perspective explored and interesting characters. Definitely a unique YA book in many ways while still having all the key style and story elements.

Olivia has one dream.
She is going to win a million dollars.
It's not for her, alone, it is to help Olivia and her little sister, Berkeley, leave the Sunny Pines Trailer Park behind them.
Her parents have split and while she and Berkeley have stayed behind with their mother, their father is a park ranger and can't contact them. She sends him emails and letters letting him know how she thinks everything is going for them. She lets him know, repeatedly, everything is fine- when it isn't. She asks if he will be able to meet her in Las Vegas when she is invited with a friend. She asks if she can come out to visit. She tells him about meeting a super secret special agent, Bart and helping him keep an eye out on a neighbor who is suspected of being a dangerous man. She tells him she is fine watching Berkeley and not going to school because mom can't find a sitter. She tells him she is fine sneaking Berkeley into her middle school and hiding her in the closet all day because they can't find a sitter and if Olivia misses any more school mom will have to go to court and possibly jail.
I will recommend some of my students, middle school, read this. Olivia, Berkeley, and their mom are facing difficult issues, especially without Olivia's father in the picture and mom being to proud to ask for help.
This title, was definitely one that made me wonder, what would I do in this situation and I felt for Olivia having to be the parent in the situation at twelve years old, especially when mom is spiraling and refuses to ask for help.
While I did like the genuine feeling of Olivia slipping into daydreaming when she faces several situations, from beating up a bully to Bart sweeping her off her feet, I didn't like the conversations... "She said,...,""I saId....," "She said...." I found myself zoning out on the conversations. They were the only part of the book that I didn't like. Thankfully, there weren't a lot of short-choppy conversations. I cringed every time I got to them.
I was given the opportunity to read this title by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book touched my heart. The way it's written, with short sentences, and thoughts, you can just put yourself in the place of Olivia. She's trying her best in the midst of adults who are too caught up in their own issues to notice. Definitely worth a read and one I will recommend to my own children.

Kids need windows and mirrors in their books. This sad and heartwarming tale will appeal to middle grade readers

Lots of emotions. So many emotions. These poor kids and you're thinking, just be fiction, make everything all right, but the truth is that things are seldom all right and lots of bad things happen and ugh, it's good and memorable.

Thank You to Netgalley, Penguin Random House and Ann Dee Ellis for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Do you remember when you were a little kid and you would live in half reality/half fantasy. Your parents are yelling at you and your mind has already taken off, adding all kinds of imaginary events onto what is really happening. I used to do it all the time. I was a perpetual day dreamer, often lost in thought, so I immediately related to Olivia, the main character in “You May Already Be A Winner”.

But Olivia is a way cooler chick than me. She has a ton of real life responsibilities, more than any kid her age. Her Dad has left her Mom and rumour has it that he left her for another woman. Her mom is barely functioning and has pulled Olivia out of school to watch her little sister Berkeley because Mom can’t afford daycare. Between household chores, cooking dinner and baby-sitting Berkeley, who can blame Olivia for a little day dreaming? Her favourite shows are Iron Chef and Fixer Upper, but she doesn’t spend all day watching TV. She makes sure to get books and workbooks from the library so she and her sister can keep learning. I love that Olivia has her day organized like a school day with lists of what “subject” is scheduled when. She would make a great teacher when she grows up! But what Olivia makes sure to do every day is to enter contests. Any kind of contest that she can find on the computer. She wants to win enough money so her mom can quit her job, she can get a phone, they can live in a real house and most importantly maybe their dad would come back home.

Then, along comes Bart, a boy her age who doesn’t go to school and works for the FBI. He is on a secret mission. Well, probably not the truth when she sees him at school, discovers his name is not Bart and he doesn’t work for the FBI. But she really likes him.

I think this would be a great book for any child (of the appropriate age) to read. Some people found this so sad, heartbreaking, dark and a tear jerker, while I found it realistic. I have taught many a student in this situation, where they aren’t any parents at home and they are responsible for dinner and their siblings. Maybe not to the extent of Olivia’s situation, which is, let’s face it, a children’s services situation, but this is something they can relate to. Also, kids who don’t have a lot, having to go to school with kids who are more privileged, and navigating the social structures is again, something kids can relate to. I also think that it is good for kids who have enough, to read about someone who doesn’t and think about what that means and how their behaviour towards them matters. Kids are not as delicate as we think and can handle a book with serious issues. It has great messages just one being that asking for help is not a bad thing. Another, Olivia is a caretaker and puts the needs of her mom and sister above her own. She has to learn that her needs are important and making sure that she takes care of herself is a great lesson that many adults need to learn. I mean the whole mindfulness movement has become an industry because people are learning that self care matters.

Ellis is engaging and manages to speak to these issues with humour and without the preachiness that children’s books often have. It would be a great book to read with any classroom of kids as part of the curriculum. It is also a touching, meaningful, fun, and engaging book that anyone should read!

Great voices and characters in this book. I wanted to hug Olivia and her little sister and let them know everything will be all right.
Olivia Hales is only twelve, yet she has a foolproof plan for winning a million dollars so that she and her little sister, Berkeley, can leave behind Sunny Pines Trailer Park.
But first she has to:
· Fix the swamp cooler and make dinner and put Berkeley to bed because her mom is too busy to do all that.
· Write another letter to her dad even though he hasn't written back yet.
· Teach Berk the important stuff, like how to make chalk drawings, because they can't afford day care and Olivia has to stay home from school to watch her.
· Petition her oddball neighbors for a circus spectacular, because there needs to be something to look forward to at dumb-bum Sunny Pines.
· Become a super-secret spy to impress her new friend Bart.
· Enter a minimum of fourteen sweepstakes a day. Who knows? She may already be a winner!

Olivia has thought of everything, but who Is going to take care of her?

This was one of those books that wasn't so much meant to be enjoyed as it was to be experienced, and probably discussed. Told in an often-rambling, stream-of-consciousness style and revolving around the life of an adolescent girl whose family life is coming apart at the seams, this was a tough story to want to read. It portrayed a bad situation honestly, with all the problems blossoming way beyond what the main character was prepared to handle. Virtually no one in the book was particularly together when you got right down to it. Dysfunction was kind of the norm. Even the characters that she liked were dishonest and/or possessing an unpredictable temper.

It's the kind of book that adults will look at, because they have an interest in child welfare, but not the kind of book that a kid will pick off of the shelf on their own. If it were recommended to the right reader, I can see reading this as almost therapeutic, though many potential readers would probably be distracted by the writing style. At times, it's nearly impossible to tell when the narrative has shifted from reality to the imaginary, which is fitting as at times the main character has trouble keeping track of the difference herself.

Still, this is not one of those books where there is a clearly understood problem that the main character is working to solve. The problem might be clear to the reader, but for the protagonist there are abundant layers of denial and naivety to work through that almost brings the entire experience to a standstill.

Not my favorite book, but I imagine that in the pantheon of YA, it'll find its niche audience.

This was a sweet story about a young girl, Olivia, trying to hold it all together for her family. Olivia lives in a trailer park with her mother and little sister and some quirky neighbors. Her father has left and her mother is holding down several jobs to try to make ends meet leaving Olivia to care for her little sister. With the help of her neighbors and a boy from school, she learns she can rely on others and that everyone needs a helping hand now and then.

Olivia Hales lives in Sunny Pines Trailer Park, but she dreams of life outside the bounds of the trailer park. She wants to turn time back to the days when her family was all together. Her love for her family abounds, demonstrated by the various ways she takes care of her mom and sister. In her mind's eye, money could solve their multitude of problems, so, at twelve, Olivia has found the solution. She just needs to win big; that way she could really turn the life of her family around. Very determined, Olivia enters every sweepstakes she can get hands on. She spends her days filling out entry forms, babysitting her younger sister, Berkeley, and dreaming of the day when their father will come back into their lives. Olivia is a quite prolific day dreamer, spending lazy days laying on the trampoline with Berkeley and their new friend, and super-secret spy, Bart. Always longing for something more, Olivia's adventure may take her far from her front door before she realizes what she already has.

Ann Dee Ellis' You May Already Be a Winner is about finding joy right where you are. It is a story about having eyes to see what is good in your circumstances and recognizing friendship in those who surround you... especially when life doesn't look exactly like you want it to. Because of her family's situation, Olivia is forced to grow up too soon, and like too many of us, she is blind to the blessings that surround her. In my opinion, this book is a great jumping off point for meaningful conversations about life and relationships. The author gives us an open door to see what Olivia is thinking and feeling and entertains topics like feeling abandoned, unfulfilled longings, true friendship, and love. With an engaging and interesting plot line and a few quirky characters, this story should engage most younger readers who like to use their imagination and enjoy seeing life through someone else's eyes. Yet at the same time, it isn't a once and done story. The characters, their struggles, and their triumphs will stick with you... and maybe taking this journey with Olivia will help you open your eyes to the friendships and blessings just outside your front door.

Thank you to Dial Books and NetGalley for an ARC of You May Already Be a Winner; all opinions above are my own.

Olivia is like a firecracker that everyone thinks is a dud. They don't realize that she's about to explode. See, she's a 12-year-old girl with adult responsibilities since her father up and left the family. Maybe that's why she daydreams so intensely. To escape her daily grind. Then one day, an unusual boy saunters into her life, and says he's conducting an FBI investigation on one of Olivia's neighbors. Is he daydreaming, too? Or is the boy really serious. Who cares! Finally, Olivia has someone her age to hang out with and confide in. But as her mom's behavior gets more erratic, her responsibilities become even greater. How much can she take before she will explode?

A charming story about the true meaning of family and friendship.

This book hit close to home for many of the students the students that I teach. This was a fun, cute little book that will have you laughing one minute then clutching your heart the next. I recommend having this in your library if you work with middle school students.

I think this book will be a lot better once the formatting is adjusted, because as it stands I had a really difficult time distinguishing whether she was daydreaming or if it was real life. But perhaps that was the point?

Either way, the concept was interesting, albeit unrealistic.

This book is one of the rare stories that manages to be both heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time. Twelve year old Olivia holds onto hope no matter what. Hope that she will be a winner in one of the many sweepstakes she enters so she can whisk her family out of the trailer park they live in. Hope that her father will answer one of her many letters and come back. Hope that if she just keeps things together a little bit longer, everything will be all right. Unfortunately, when a twelve year old girl is expected to hold everything together all by herself, heartbreak is inevitable. Olivia's strength as she tries to cope with taking on the role of the adult of the family and keeping her little sister from realizing just how bad things are is incredible. This is a story that every child who has had to grow up too fast will be able to relate to and understand.

I thought this one had an interesting premise-a girl is trying to take care of her family and they are kind of falling apart around her. Her father has left the family and the mom is struggling to take care of Olivia and her little sister. The mom over relies on Olivia to take care her little sister. The problem with this story is that Olivia has a vivid imagination and some of the passages of her fantasies are a bit confusing. The second is that the adults in this story aren't very well fleshed out so you really have no idea why the mom is incapable of dealing with a job and a family and why the dad left and is completely out of touch with the family. I'd like to think that a child who is in a family that is so completely falling apart would have some other adult to turn to.

Wow! This is one of those books that I'm not quite sure how to review. The poor, poor girl in this book.... I couldn't have felt any worse for her. Unfortunately, I think there are many students in the area I am from that could relate to her story.

A middle school novel that can also be enjoyed by adults. Twelve year old Olivia seems to have the weight of the world on her shoulders. Her dad has left their home in the trailer park and her mom is stressed and never seems to have the energy, time or money to do much. Olivia has basically assumed responsibility for taking care of herself and her younger sister, Berkley. When Olivia meets a strange boy named Bart, she begins to hope that a little bit of happiness has found her home. This story has both ups and downs. A few times it seems a little long winded, but Olivia is such a likeable character, it made the story interesting. I was a little disappointed by the ending which felt a bit rushed and out of place, but a great story overall! I received a complimentary ebook from the publisher.

I loved the title and was looking forward to reading this book. Olivia's wry tone hooked me and, while kind of jarring at times, her flights of fancy became an interesting device in the story. However, I really struggled with some of the elements. I thought Olivia was an awfully young 12-year-old. I pegged her innocence and hopefulness to be much younger.

I felt this was a story that may go nowhere. It didn't go far, what it did was infer some things deeply: the burden each person carries. I think the weight of Olivia's responsibilities may well go over any child's head, which makes me think this book is better geared towards an adult audience to catch the lessons and insights. It seems this book is marketed for children and I think this story could've been more powerfully done if it was aimed at adults.

You May Already Be a Winner by Ann Dee Ellis

You May Already Be a Winner by Ann Dee Ellis is listed as Children’s Fiction, Middle School. The book is heart wrenching and poignant. I was unable to put it down. Olivia Hale has hope and gumption. Hope things will get better, if she could just win a million dollars and gumption to keep on trying. Since her dad left Olivia’s Mom has struggled. She has been working and trying to stay up to date with the bills. Olivia has been left alone to take care of Berkeley, skipping school so that Berkeley doesn’t have to go to daycare. And then life gets more out of control. Olivia is overwhelmed and unable to deal with anything more...

I think that good readers will be fine reading this book. They will understand where Olivia goes off into her mind and where she actually is present. That might be difficult for concrete or literal thinking students. I think understanding the trouble that Olivia’s family is in monetarily and mentally might be more challenging for some students who do not have similar problems. However, I think most students will be sympathetic to Olivia and her struggles and wish to help.

You May Already Be a Winner by Ann Dee Ellis was a great read.

This is the darkest middle grade book I have ever read. It shattered my heart and it’s not even written to be a tear jerker. The 12-year-old protagonist, Olivia, tells the story in such an innocent, aloof way that is really kind of chilling when you realize the drama that’s going on behind the scenes. As a teacher who has mentored kids like Olivia and who has had to call DHR on behalf of kids like Olivia, I was just horrified while reading this book.

Olivia and her younger sister Berkley have been abandoned by their dad who tells them that he’s moving to be a park ranger in Bryce Canyon. This leaves them living with their mom who who asks Olivia to skip school to care for Berkley during the day. Olivia plays caretaker, teacher, cook, and entertainer for Berkley as well as handy-woman who fixes up the trailer their family lives in. She also spends her time applying to online sweepstakes, which she loves because they tell her that “You May Already Be a Winner!” and this is the kind of hope Olivia thrives on. When she and Berkley meet a new boy named Bart, Olivia is thrilled to have a new friend and confidant. As the truth about her dad's absence and her mom's neglect are unveiled, Olivia has to learn how to cope.