The Healing Spell

by Kimberley Griffiths Little

Overview

Set in the lush bayou of Louisiana, critically acclaimed Kimberley Griffiths Little's lyrical and heartfelt story, THE HEALING SPELL, is now in paperback!Twelve-year-old Livie is living with a secret and it's crushing her. She knows she is responsible for her mother's coma, but she can't tell anyone. It's up to her to find a way to wake her mamma up. Stuck in the middle of three sisters, hiding a forbidden pet alligator, and afraid to disappoint her daddy, whom she loves more than anyone else, Livie struggles to find her place within her own family as she learns about the powers of faith and redemption. Livie's powerful, emotional, and sometimes humorous story will stay with readers long after the last line is read.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545388412
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	02/01/2012
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
Lexile:	800L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Kimberley Griffiths Little is the author of THE HEALING SPELL, CIRCLE OF SECRETS, and WHEN THE BUTTERFLIES CAME, as well as dozens of short stories that have appeared in numerous publications, and the novels BREAKAWAY, ENCHANTED RUNNER, and THE LAST SNAKE RUNNER. She is the winner of the Southwest Book Award. Kimberley lives near the banks of the Rio Grande in New Mexico in a solar adobe house with her husband and their children.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Healing Spell

"An incantational tale of Cajun magic and gators in the bayou and of the love and silence between mother and daughter." - Richard Peck, Newbery Award-winning author of A Year Down Yonder

"Kimberley Griffiths Little's The Healing Spell is an atmospheric, affecting story of hope and devotion, as elegant and mysterious as bayou country itself." - Cynthia Leitich Smith, acclaimed author of Tantalize and Eternal

"A special offering for readers seeking a challenge of the heart as well as the mind. " - Booklist

"[A] wonderful coming-of-age story." - The Sunday Advertiser

From the Publisher

Gr 5–8—Guilt-ridden because she believes she caused the accident that resulted in her mother being in a coma, 11-year-old Livie is terrified to tell anyone for fear they will hate her. She and her mother have never been close, but she adores her father and spends a lot of time with him in the Louisiana swamps where they live. Daddy chooses to care for Mamma at home, believing it will hasten her recovery, and Livie can't bear to touch her, which causes friction with her older sister and the aunt who's come to help out. Because she desperately wants her mother to be well, the girl visits a traiteur who lives deep in the bayou to obtain a healing spell guaranteed to work if Livie has faith. The setting is beautifully described and the protagonist is well-defined. However, the book is too long for the plot. Readers will figure out how the accident happened long before the characters do. The ending, with the mother waking from her weeks-long coma one night, talking to her drowsing husband, going to her art studio and finishing a painting, then returning to bed and to unconsciousness, is rather far-fetched. It isn't clear whether the author wanted the event to be mystical or miraculous, but it definitely isn't realistic.—Nancy P. Reeder, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, Columbia, SC

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