Harry Sue by Sue Stauffacher

At eleven years old, Harry Sue Clotkin already has a couple of strikes against her. She's the only child of convicted felons and her best friend is a quadriplegic who won't come out of his tree house. Her plan so far is to tough up and head for the joint. But before she can start the life of crime that will land her in the joint with her mom, Harry Sue needs to save a swarm of little kids from evil Granny Clotkin, whose in-home daycare should be labeled hazardous to your health. In addition, Violet Chump could use a good Samaritan, and Jolly Roger Chlorine and his crew need to learn that girls like Harry Sue do not take it on the chin.

Like Dorothy in her favorite story, The Wizard of Oz, Harry Sue's got a long journey home. And she could use some help. Add Baba and J-Cat to Homer Price, and you have a crew only slightly less strange than the lion, the tin man and the scarecrow.

The cover is what attracted me to this book with a little girl looking through red jail bars. At first I thought it might be just another one of those sarcastic books for kids. But I quickly realized that this character while wanting to be bad just can't be. You end up cheering for her to succeed by the end. The author's notes at the end were very interesting as well.