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Gr 5-7 Ellie's mother died when Ellie was five, and the 12-year-old and her art-professor father have formed a deep bond, yet she is plagued with more than the usual insecurities of her age. Instead of relaxing during yoga lessons, she worries about what will happen if her father does not receive tenure. Will they move, leaving her friends behind? Will he marry Gayle, a woman who does not seem to care for her? And why do her father and Uncle Lyman so dislike her m...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Seemingly well-adjusted twelve-year-old Ellie is anxious about whether her widowed sculptor/art professor father will get tenure, allowing them to stay in the Western Massachusetts community in which she feels safe and loved. Although she lost her mother when she was five, her life has been as settled as her doting dad can provide. Then, unbelievably, after her unloved and unloving grandmother Aurelia dies, she learns that she is now the sole heir of Aurelia's home in Vermont, Hart Farm, where Ellie's own mother grew up. As if rising from the grave, Aurelia also wishes that her granddaughter "should read the set of diaries now in a leather ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More