Grass Angel
A PEN/USA Literary Award finalist
A Junior Library Guild selection
Chosen by the Washington Post as a "Post Kids Book of
the Week."
"Honest,
lyrical, and deeply felt, Grass Angel is the kind of book
that you want to insist that others read. Really. You must
read it. I insist."
—Kate
Dicamillo, author of The Tale of Despereaux and
Because of Winn-Dixie
Frances Cressen
has the perfect summer planned. She's going to Camp
Whitman with her best friend, Agnes. But Frances's mother
has something else in mind for the family: Mountain Ash, a
spiritual retreat in the middle of nowhere. Frances can't
think of anything worse than Bible class and baby-sitting
for eight long weeks—that is, until her mother drives
away with her younger brother, Everett, and leaves Frances
behind.
Now a stranger is renting Frances's house while she's stuck
living out by the graveyard with her odd aunt Blue. And Camp
Whitman is a disaster. The boys in Frances's group say that
weird things are happening at Mountain Ash, and Frances begins
to worry and to wonder. Everett doesn't sound like himself
anymore, and her mother never talks about coming home. Are
they happier without Frances?
"Schumacher's characters are
carefully, lushly drawn.... Many readers will connect with
this poignant yet occasionally lighthearted novel, which touches
on many children's greatest fear: abandonment."
-- Booklist
"Middle-school readers will
identify with the way Frances lashes out or gets moody when
she's troubled and with her love for her little brother. Girls
will like the way Agnes stands by her friend Frances, even
when other people disapprove of her. And all readers will
love Blue, the kind of aunt even grown-ups wish they could
turn to when they need comforting."
-- St. Paul Pioneer Press
|
