North Beat Christmas by Jenna Zark

Genre: Middle Grade, Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

This is Jenna Zark's third book in the "Beat Street" Series, we find Ruby and her brother in California. This year they have convinced their mother to let them spend Christmas with their dad in San Francisco.  Things get off to a rocky start. Their father fails to pick them up from the train station, Ruby's satchel with her money, and most importantly her notebook is stolen. Once they get to their dad's house they find him face down on the floor of his apartment.  For money for food Ray plays the saxophone, his dad plays the bongos dnd Ruby dances in a park. They are part of a community known as the "beats". As Ruby and Ray get off the bus in front of a book store called Inner Pages, Ruby's one desire is to go inside and be immersed in the pages of the greats. She sets that as her goal for the next morning. When she gets there she finds herself with a job and a new friend. Ruth is an older lady who works there.  After lunch they return to the bookstore and find her brother Ray. He has come to get Ruby because he can't get into his dad's bedroom and his dad isn't answering.  This is when Ruby realizes her father has a problem with alcohol.  Ruby meets another young man in the bookstore. His name is Marty. Marty has some issues of his own, but Ruby is the kind of friend who sticks by them no matter what.

This is an awesome book.  Ruby learns a lot of lessons in this book. She grows up quite a bit. we see her mature in ways we hope our young people will eventually mature. We get a glimpse into a time period most of us know nothing about. We see Ruby and her brother deal with issues our young people today must deal with. Most importantly we see what love can accomplish.  What a wonderful book to start off my Christmas break from school.