I am unsurprised that I enjoyed it; after all, I enjoyed the majority of novels-in-verse out there ("Love That Dog" included), and I think Sharon Creech is quite a talented writer. Again, her talent shows here; the characters were detailed and realistic, and the prose is rich and takes you into the story, as if you were running along with Annie and Max. I was especially amused by the footnotes. Though there isn't anything too heartbreaking or heartwarming here, this book is emotionally involving and thoughtful, and I can imagine myself revisiting it in the future.
(I tried to write the review without using any of the forbidden words. Hopefully, I didn't. If I did, I'll go back and fix them.)