Country; Informal
Country
No—we don't mean that the writing sounds like it came straight from a country song. But we do mean that the word choices and phrasing sound a lot like people who live in small country town. Listen to Mibs describe where they live:
Settling directly between Nebraska and Kansas in a little place all our own, just off Highway 81, we were well beyond hollering distance from the nearest neighbor, which was the best place to be for a family like ours. (1.4)
"Hollering distance" isn't something you'd expect to hear at a bodega or a big city restaurant—it's the type of phrase you expect to hear while sipping iced tea on a front porch and watching tumbleweeds roll past. And since our story is told in the first person, this way of speaking is the way the whole story is written, which really helps set the scene and gives readers an understanding of how "out in the middle of nowhere" we really are in this book.
Informal
You can put the good silver away—informal means that this story reads like you're sitting next to a good friend and they're telling about their adventures over burgers and soda. (Mmm… burgers and soda.) You get all the dirt, and you don't have to ask twice for it. Mibs is both the main character and the narrator after all, and at the ripe old age of thirteen, she just sits back and tells the story like she sees it. So pull up a chair, and grab a snack—Mibs won't mind if you get crumbs everywhere while she talks.