Bookverdict.com

Gr 4–6—Ever since the death of her beloved grandmother, 11-year-old Stella has battled to maintain a sense of stability, to "clutch hold" to the spinning Earth. She explains that an unknown father and a terminally irresponsible mother have made her "personal gravity" "a little weak" and left her feeling rootless. Her anxiety is just beginning to lessen now that she shares a Cape Cod home with her taciturn Great-Aunt Louise and a foster girl named Angel whom Stella considers like "a cactus…all spines." Pennypacker beautifully illuminates Stella's p...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Stella’s great aunt Louise lives on Cape Cod, where she works tending vacation cottages for her friend George. Stella ends up there one summer when her mother takes off (yet again), as does foster kid Angel. The two girls are oil and water: Stella is obsessed with the "Hints from Heloise" clippings she inherited from her grandmother, while Angel only wants to watch Louise’s soaps. The two collude, however, when Louise dies of a heart attack. Neither girl has had anything but bad experience with "the authorities," so ins...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Stella's great-aunt Louise tends vacation cottages on Cape Cod. When her mother takes off (again), Stella ends up there, as does...Log In or Sign Up to Read More