It’s been a hard year
for Maisie Cannon, ever since she hurt her leg and could not keep up
with her ballet training and auditions.
Her blended family is
loving and supportive, but Maisie knows that they just can’t understand
how hopeless she feels. With everything she’s dealing with, Maisie is
not excited for their family midwinter road trip along the coast, near
the Makah community where her mother grew up.
But soon, Maisie’s
anxieties and dark moods start to hurt as much as the pain in her knee.
How can she keep pretending to be strong when on the inside she feels as
roiling and cold as the ocean?
Reviews
"The story takes place primarily over the course of four days, during
which we get to know Maisie’s family uncommonly well through quotidian
details and worldview-encompassing conversations; secondary characters,
too, are nuanced and vividly drawn. Maisie’s pain is specific to her
experience while being relatable to many readers going through big life
changes. Her alienation, denial, and despair make her eventual opening
up feel cathartic and narratively earned. The Pacific Northwest setting
is atmospherically described and indicative of this Native blended
family’s formative experiences." -- Horn Book Magazine
"This thoughtful, honest sophomore novel invites readers to reckon with life's messy complexities while reassuring them that every ending brings the seeds of new beginnings." -- Shelf Awareness
This meditative story about a middle school girl’s courageous journey toward healing follows a family as they navigate the complexities of supporting a tween’s life-changing injury. In her second novel, Day offers a heartening glimpse into the immense patience and love required to endure limitations, build strength, and repair damage. An insightful, stirring read about healing and resilience. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A contemplative and emotional story of resilience and reinvention whose dedication sums it up well: 'To anyone who needs a reminder that pain is temporary.'" -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Most of Maisie’s tale is compressed into a period of several days over winter break, and as readers share her inner monologue, they’re keenly aware that failure to follow professional advice and accept the support of teachers, family, and friends (who have demonstrably not deserted her) is turning her into her own worst enemy. Day lifts the narrative beyond the tribulations of another angsty tween heroine by offering an eminently reasonable path forward, paved with physical healing, emotional therapy, and reconnection with friends." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
"Day’s contemplative #OwnVoices novel adeptly explores Maisie’s grief and identity, both as a dancer and as a Native American, with the latter organically highlighting variations within Native cultures. An inaugural title of the Native-centered imprint Heartdrum, this finds strength and beauty in life’s quiet moments and opportunity in the unexpected." -- Booklist
"This thoughtful, honest sophomore novel invites readers to reckon with life's messy complexities while reassuring them that every ending brings the seeds of new beginnings." -- Shelf Awareness
This meditative story about a middle school girl’s courageous journey toward healing follows a family as they navigate the complexities of supporting a tween’s life-changing injury. In her second novel, Day offers a heartening glimpse into the immense patience and love required to endure limitations, build strength, and repair damage. An insightful, stirring read about healing and resilience. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A contemplative and emotional story of resilience and reinvention whose dedication sums it up well: 'To anyone who needs a reminder that pain is temporary.'" -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Most of Maisie’s tale is compressed into a period of several days over winter break, and as readers share her inner monologue, they’re keenly aware that failure to follow professional advice and accept the support of teachers, family, and friends (who have demonstrably not deserted her) is turning her into her own worst enemy. Day lifts the narrative beyond the tribulations of another angsty tween heroine by offering an eminently reasonable path forward, paved with physical healing, emotional therapy, and reconnection with friends." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
"Day’s contemplative #OwnVoices novel adeptly explores Maisie’s grief and identity, both as a dancer and as a Native American, with the latter organically highlighting variations within Native cultures. An inaugural title of the Native-centered imprint Heartdrum, this finds strength and beauty in life’s quiet moments and opportunity in the unexpected." -- Booklist
Christine Day
Christine Day (Upper Skagit) is the author of The Sea in Winter and I Can Make This Promise, which was a best book of the year from Kirkus, School Library Journal, NPR,
and the Chicago Public Library as well as an American Indian Youth
Literature Award Honor Book and a Charlotte Huck Award Honor Book.You
can visit her online at www.bychristineday.com
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