God Is in the Pancakes
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4.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Fifteen-year-old Grace Manning is a candy striper in a nursing home, and Mr. Sands is the one patient who makes the job bearable. He keeps up with her sarcasm, teaches her to play poker . . . and one day cheerfully asks her to help him die. At first Grace says no way, but as Mr. Sands?s disease progresses, she?s not so sure. Grace tries to avoid the wrenching decision by praying for a miracle, stuffing herself with pancakes, and running away from all feelings, including the new ones she has for her best friend Eric. But Mr. Sands is getting worse, and she can?t avoid him forever.
Robin Epstein has delivered an incredibly engaging, thought-provoking debut YA novel, with all the snappy dialogue and attitude of the movie Juno.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Epstein's (the Groovy Girls series) powerful and poignant novel, her first for teenage readers, 10th-grader Grace narrates her exploration of life's conundrums as she faces difficult choices in every close relationship, some of which are literally a matter of life and death. Reeling from her father's sudden departure from their family and adulterous relationship with a church friend, Grace feels abandoned by him and by God, left to confront complex issues alone. Should she tell her older sister, Lolly, that Lolly's boyfriend is cheating? Can she support her overwhelmed and exhausted mother and ever speak to her father again? How should she cope with the new feelings she's having for her best friend, Eric? And most importantly, when the terminally ill Mr. Sands, her favorite patient at her after-school nursing home job, asks her to help him die, what is the moral response? Unsentimental but caring intergenerational relationships and spot-on adolescent banter provide humor and hope in this stellar addition to the coming-of-age genre, which offers neither judgments nor simplistic answers. Ages 12 up.
