My Take: I really enjoyed this book. I was curious about it when I first read the summary because I homeschool my daughter and homeschooled my two older children all the way through school. Beside a few spots where the author made Matthew a little naive ( seemed that he was that way because of his being homeschooled, Most homeschooled children that I know are more away of the entire world than the average child their age) I thought that the author portrayed a homeschooled child very well.
I was touched my how willing that Matthew was to watch after Dinah and how he tried to come up with solutions to her problems. They made a fine team. I was disappointed that he felt he needed to hide Dinah from his parents because I am sure that something could have been worked out that she wouldn't of had to go into child welfare.
Over all I thought this was a very enjoyable books and I am going to give it to my daughter to read next.