Grace Above All Book

What's that pink thing out on the lake? Grace realizes with horror that the distant pink smudge on the water is her youngest sister, Beth, drifting farther and farther offshore atop an inflatable raft. There's no time to lose, and Grace never dawdles anyway. Struggling through the cold waves, Grace gradually closes in on her terrified sister. At that moment, boys are the last thing on Grace's mind. But a boy turns up to assist in the rescue. And he's really handsome. Together Frankie and Grace tow Beth back to safety, and Grace begins to hope that maybe - despite having to take care of three younger siblings, despite an oblivious mother smoking her brains out, despite the ancient great-aunt and her mysterious daughter - maybe this summer vacation won't be so bad after all.

In the companion to The Summer Sherman Loved Me, a determined heroine discovers that she can indeed rise above it all.

KLIATT

In this companion piece to The Summer Sherman Loved Me, we return to a time before the Internet and cell phones. Grace is spending the summer in a beach house with her family. Her mother is not the maternal kind. In fact she often leaves Grace to take care of her four siblings while she drinks and smokes alone in her room. Thirteen-year-old Grace has developed an unsympathetic edge herself and is not above taunting her younger siblings while being taunted by her older brother. However, the neighboring family includes young Frankie Hale; Grace is interested in him and for the first time cares for someone other than herself. During the summer, Grace also meets her mother's Aunt Hilda and Hilda's emotionally challenged daughter, Gunda. At first the children are afraid of Gunda, a big woman who grunts rather than speaks, but as the summer goes on there is something in the relationship between mother and daughter that Grace comes to value. She faces her own relationship with a mother she dislikes and yet seems to emulate. By the time the family leaves the cabin, Grace has learned much about family and about the responsibility she has in the creation of her own. Readers may have difficulty with the setting, but the value of family and the presence of hope against the odds make this a powerful little story.