Our main character Raymie has a plan to get her father back into her life. She joins two other girls who are also taking lessons in baton twirling for a beauty contest. Her hopes is she wins and her dad sees her name in the newspaper and he comes rushing home to be with her.

I flew through this book's short chapters. The characters are sweet and endearing. The three girls are each very different and a little strange together. Every girl has a strong characteristic. Louisiana has great sense of imagination, Beverly is strong and fearless, and Raymie sees the good in all. All are great qualities and makes for an interesting friendship.

I liked the book but this is not author Kate DiCamillo best by far. It was missing the magicalness that books like The Magician's Elephant and Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane. There was also not much of a plot.

Raymie Nightingale was a quick and somewhat fun read. I found myself wanting to hear more about the Florence Nightingale book that Raymie reads. Apparently that book is not a real book. In the end I am not sorry I read this, because there were some beautiful descriptions that shows the author knows what she's good at.

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