Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts

Product Description
Lutie McFee's history has taught her to avoid attachments...to people, to places, and to almost everything. With her mother long dead and her father long gone to find his fortune in Las Vegas, 15-year-old Lutie lives in the god-forsaken town of Spearfish, South Dakota with her twelve-year-old brother, Fate, and Floy Satterfield, the 300-pound ex-girlfriend of her father. While Lutie shoplifts for kicks, Fate spends most of his time reading, watching weird TV shows and worrying about global warming and the endangerment of pandas. As if their life is not dismal enough, one day, while shopping in their local Wal-Mart, Floy keels over and the two motherless kids are suddenly faced with the choice of becoming wards of the state or hightailing it out of town in Floy's old Pontiac. Choosing the latter, they head off to Las Vegas in search of a father who has no known address, no phone number and, clearly, no interest in the kids he left behind.

MADE IN THE U.S.A. is the alternately heartbreaking and life-affirming story of two gutsy children who must discover how cruel, unfair and frightening the world is before they come to a place they can finally call home.

My thoughts
“Made in the USA” is a touching story about Lutie McFee and her brother Fate and how they try and survive in Las Vegas after the death of the woman who was taking care of them. Lutie thinks she knows all about how to endure the cruel world which is now her home. I have never any other books by Billie Letts, and am not going to let some of the negative reviews I have come across to affect my feelings. This story brought tears to my eyes, and I was rooting for the kids. Is it believable, maybe, maybe not? I just know that I loved the book.