The Shell Lady's Daughter

by C.S. Adler

Fourteen-year-old Kelly doesn't understand why she has been shipped off to stay with her rigid grandparents in Florida. And why does her mother have to stay up north in the hospital and her grandmother refuses to answer her questions? Walking the hot, sunny Florida beach, Kelly remembers her mother's sad stories about shell ladies. Suddenly she realizes they are more than fairy tales. Is it her fault that her darling mother has had a mental breakdown? And do her mother's needs or her own struggle for independence come first?

Genres: Banned Books, Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, Novels

142 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

C.S. (Carole) Adler moved to Tucson, Arizona, after spending most of her life in upstate New York. She was an English teacher at Niskayuna Middle School for nearly a decade. She is a passionate tennis player, grandmother, and nature lover, and has been a full-time writer since the publication of her first book,The Magic of the Glits, in 1979. That book won both the William Allen White Award and the Golden Kite Award.

Her bookThe Shell Lady’s Daughter was chosen by the A.L.A. as a best young adult book of l983. With Westie and the Tin Man won the Children’s Book Award of the Child Study Committee in l986, and that committee has commended many of Adler’s books. Split Sisters in l987 and Ghost Brother in 1991 were I.R.A. Children’s Choices selections. One Sister Too Many was on the 1991 Young Adults’ Choices list. Always and Forever Friends and Eddie’s Blue Winged Dragon were on a 1991 I.R.A. 99 Favorite Paperbacks list.

Many of her books have been on state lists and have also been published in Japan, Germany, England, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, and France.

Reviews

[Tattered Cover Book Store]

This book is on the bibliography of books challenged, restricted, removed or banned in 2007-2008 put out by Robert P. Doyle and the American Library Association. More info at http://www.ila.org/pdf/2008banned.pdf

[Carey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in middle school in the mid 80’s. I remember sitting in the library at school while reading this. It really resonated with me back then.