My Aunt Otilia's spirits Book

Read this, my friends. It's good medicine. Heartwarming, realistic, subtle, and funny in a subdued style. Winner of 1993 Newbery Medal. Set in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, present day, this is one of the better depictions of grieving, despair, and eventual renewal. It's also a story about adoption, and loving relationships between young people and old folks.

Summer's parents died when she was a baby, leaving her orphaned. After being passed from one reluctant relative to another, she finally finds a home at age six, moving in with her kindly but quite elderly relatives, Aunt May and Uncle Ob. Summer finds a serene happiness in their kitschy old trailer, surrounded by pinwheel wind spinners -- the colorful whirligigs they create and sell.

Happy, that is, until Aunt May suddenly dies, six years later. Now, with his beloved wife gone, Ob must step up to the plate as primary caregiver, but he misses May so much, it's plain hard to get up in the morning. The days turn gray and bleak. In a sense, old Ob has become the orphan.

Summer, now 12 years old, is there for him. She forms an initially reluctant friendship with Cletus, because this oddball classmate -- bizarre suitcase always in tow -- has a positive affect on Uncle Ob. Cletus understands the grieving old guy, perhaps because he had a near-death experience himself.

Eventually, they all go for a drive, pulling up at a sign labeled "small medium at large" (chuckle). They are hoping to commune with May's spirit.

In time, as grief waxes its way in an accepting environment, Ob decides to "turn that buggy around" -- a pivotal moment, reflecting his decision to shake it off and start living again.

A sleeper type of story that seemed almost negligible when I read it, but -- surprisingly enough -- it has stayed with me for two decades. Must have burrowed into my heart.