Heart Finds
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A heartwarming novel about a girl who must learn to let go of the past and embrace the future, perfect for fans of Kate DiCamillo and Barbara O’Connor.
Eleven-year-old Mabel Cunningham is a quiet loner who only feels free to be herself when she's "extreme treasure hunting" with her grampa—much to her perfectionist mother's disapproval. Nothing excites Mabel more than discovering a heart find, an item that calls to her heart, and the maybes that come along with it.
But when her friendships start to crumble and her grampa suffers a stroke, Mabel quickly learns that real-life maybes are harder to handle than imagined ones. Desperate to change things back to the way they were, Mabel devises a plan that she believes will fix everything. Except bringing her plan to fruition means lying to her grampa and disappointing her mother.
Will Mabel learn that letting go of the past doesn’t mean letting go of her grampa and that embracing the future might be one of her most important heart finds yet?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With humor and a light touch, this feel-good novel with a personal-growth trajectory captures the sharp edges of a family crisis and shifting sixth-grade social dynamics. In Abner, Okla., word-loving 11-year-old narrator Mabel and her collection-loving grandfather are "urban scavengers" for whom dumpster diving is sport. For them, "heart finds, items that take hold and stir something in our hearts," prove the ultimate trophy. Just as her lifelong best friend Ashley gets sucked into the popular crowd, and a pattern of unkind behavior ensues, Mabel's beloved grandfather experiences a stroke. Suddenly, Mabel must adapt to hospital routines and scary possibilities, and rely more on her sometimes judgmental single mother, a former beauty queen turned wedding planner and tablescaper who favors the perfect and the new. In this shifting whirlwind, Mabel not only finds a few kindred spirit friends but also comes to a deeper understanding of her mom's own wounds and dreams. Berry (Hope Springs) crafts a winning, wise heroine and a heartfelt small-town story that foregrounds the message that "sometimes you don't find what you were looking for, but just what your heart needed." Characters read as white. Ages 8–12.
