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Feb 3, 2006

Tending to Grace, Kimberly Newton Fusco

Book Find this book in the Hawley Library

I really liked this book. While its quick and short, its really pretty deep and interesting (vs. shallow and with little development of characters). Cornelia doesn't talk. She's really smart, but because she doesn't talk (she has a stutter and just got tired of how people reacted so she stopped talking) she gets put into classes that are pretty bogus. On top of this, her mom is kind of messed up. She gets into these moods, and Cornelia thinks she's the only one who can deal with this. But her mom has a boyfriend who doesn't want to drag a kid with them when they decide one day to move to Vegas.

So she gets dumped off at her crazy great-aunt's house. Her aunt lives in this rickety old house that's totally broken down and eats weird hippy food. But the most significant thing is that she won't talk for Cornelia - so Cornelia has to speak up. She's also missing her mom in a big way, and getting into fights with her great aunt. Ultimately, of course, Cornelia learns some key things about herself - but the way this is done in the book is really authentic and doesn't reek of stinky cheese like some of these books do.

Def one of the best books I've read recently.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for the wonderful review you gave my first novel, Tending to Grace. I thought the comments were very insightful, and I particularly liked that you thought it was an authentic portrayal and not "stinky cheese." Well said! You have some terrific reviews on this site. Thanks again!
Kimberly Newton Fusco