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Keeper
Keeper was born in the ocean, and she believes she is part mermaid. So as a ten-year-old she goes out looking for her mother—an unpredictable and uncommonly gorgeous woman who swam away when Keeper was three—and heads right for the ocean, right for the sandbar where mermaids are known to gather. But her boat is too small for the surf—and much too small for the storm that is brewing on the horizon.
Kathi Appelt follows her award-winning and New York Times bestselling novel The Underneath with this stunning, mysterious, and breathtaking tale of a girl who outgrows fairy tales just a little too late—and learns in the end that there is nothing more magical and mythical than love itself.
Kathi Appelt follows her award-winning and New York Times bestselling novel The Underneath with this stunning, mysterious, and breathtaking tale of a girl who outgrows fairy tales just a little too late—and learns in the end that there is nothing more magical and mythical than love itself.
417 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2010
75 people are currently reading
2850 people want to read
About the author
Kathi Appelt
55 books551 followersLives in College Station, TX with husband Ken and four adorable cats.
Two sons, both musicians.
Serves on the faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts in the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults Program.
Two sons, both musicians.
Serves on the faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts in the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults Program.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 546 reviews
June 1, 2010
I don't consider myself a particularly sentimental person. I don't really cry at movies (E.T. was supposed to go home, for crying out loud). Television shows leave me high and dry (sorry LOST finale). And books? Considering that I read most of them in quick bits and bites as I travel the New York City subway system, you're going to be some kinda book to crack so much as a sniffle out of me, let along an out-and-out bawl. So imagine my surprise the other day as I stood on the platform of the F train in Brooklyn, tears merrily streaming down my face as I read Kathi Appelt's latest. Now I'll be the first to admit that there were some personal reasons why this book was hitting me as hard as it was. And what's more, I'm fairly certain that if I was eleven and reading the same book I wouldn't have cracked so much as a sniffle. That said, there are some authors that can make words twist emotions out of your chest. Who can embarrass you when you board the F train, trying desperately to look like you weren't just crying over a small, unprepossessing children's book. Appelt's one. And her latest is going to win over a whole new generation of young fans.
How can a single day go so wrong? It wasn't supposed to be a bad day, after all. It was a day that was leading up to a sweet blue moon. But that was before ten-year-old Keeper ruined her guardian Signe's traditional crab gumbo by setting the crabs free. Before she inadvertently destroyed grandfatherly Mr. Beauchamp's most prized possessions. Before she was present when Dogie, a man she sees as a kind of father, watched as his hopes of asking Signe to marry him were dashed before his eyes. Now the only way Keeper can think to make amends is to cast off into the sea with just her dog B.D. in tow to find Meggie Marie. Meggie Marie is Keeper's mama and, she thinks, a mermaid as well. Along the way Keeper gives up the things that mean the most to her, and comes to appreciate the fact that it's people, not objects, that bind a family together. No matter how bad your day has been.
When Appelt wrote The Underneath it caused strong emotions in her readership. You loved it or you hated it. A couple folks didn't commit one way or another, but for the bulk of us that was it. Love or hate. Tempers seethed. Sharp words were exchanged. The important thing to remember is that folks were talking about a children's book. Their hearts got mixed into the discussion. It's a powerful writer that can wring such passion out of her readership, even if it results in debates over the quality of the book itself. The Underneath was a dark piece of writing hidden behind a kitten-laden cover. It confronted the nature of evil itself with a villain so nasty, reviewers couldn't even contest his lack of redeeming qualities. Keeper is an experiment in contrasts. Where The Underneath examined hate and bitterness, Keeper is about love, family, and forgiveness.
There is a note at the back of this book in the Acknowledgment section that strikes me as just as important as any word in the text itself. Writes Ms. Appelt of one Diane Linn, "She lovingly cast her knowledge of tides and currents and stingrays my way, and she asked me to consider heartbreak over anger." Heartbreak over anger. The very root of why Keeper goes traipsing out into the sea in a boat with only a dog by her side. Any book, heck most books, would have sent Keeper into that boat in the midst of a snit. Kids understand snits. They're experts in `em. But while a snit may help your plot along, it isn't as emotionally rewarding as good old-fashioned guilt. Keeper goes into that boat not because she's mad or even because she feels much affection for her absent mother, but because she's wholly convinced that she's ruined the lives of everyone she loves and this is the only way to rectify the situation. That packs the necessary emotional wallop the book requires, while also making Keeper a sympathetic character. Well played, Diane Linn.
I said earlier that Keeper stands in contrast to The Underneath and I'll stand by that, but the two books do have at least two things in common. For one thing, there's a fair amount of repetition to both texts that will madden a certain kind of reader. It peters out in "Keeper" after a little while, but like The Underneath it may cause a bit of irritation for folks who don't enjoy the cadences. Second, Ms. Appelt isn't afraid to take the point of view and toss it like a ball between her characters. For the most part, it's Keeper's eyes we see the world through, but around page eleven things change. Suddenly we're hearing Signe's story from her perspective. Then later it's Dogie, Mr. Beauchamp, a seagull, and the dogs. Such an effect should be jarring to the reader. Switch your focus too much and where do your loyalties lie as a reader? I suppose that's the point, though. Your loyalties lie with everyone. This is a family's story, in a sense. As such, you need all their perspectives. And except for a brief hiccup I experienced on page twelve, none of these changes to the p.o.v. struck me as anything but necessary to the book's storytelling.
In terms of the illustrator, I had to look up August Hall to see who the heck he was. The name was familiar but wasn't ringing any bells in my brain loudly enough to place him. A quick glance at his website and I see that he's an animator (a popular occupation to begin in if you're going to be a children's book illustrator these days). He's done covers to books like The Fairies of Nutfolk Wood and Antonio S. and the Mysterious Theodore Guzman. Apparently he even made his own picture book (Song and Juniper) back in the day. Still and all, all those books had a kind of cartoony quality to them. Keeper taps far more into Mr. Hall's ability to get at the core of a moment. Keeper's hand dangling into the current of the water, the porte-bonheur dangling about her neck. Or the image of the night blooming cyrus, crushed and broken on the ground. It was Hall's image of an 18-year-old Signe holding three-year-old Keeper in her arms in the sea, her face full of fury, that really tripped the switch on the old tear ducts, I'll admit it. And how interesting that he made Dogie black. The text says that he has dreadlocks, but I don't remember it specifying an ethnicity for him necessarily.
Which brings us to Ms. Appelt's brave choices in this book. There are two love stories in this book and both of them inadequately represented in the world of children's literature. I personally believe that Ms. Appelt always saw Dogie as African-American and for once it's nice that a person's ethnicity isn't given to be white if it's not mentioned in the text. In literature for children, teens, and adults, if race isn't mentioned then inevitably you're supposed to envision a character as white. Makes no sense. No sense at all. So August's illustrations provide part of the story, a story that consists of a white woman and a black man deeply in love. Even more interesting to me, though, is the tale of Mr. Beauchamp. We hear his tragic story in bits in pieces. How at the age of 14 he fell in love with a boy named Jack, who loved him too. How Jack's secret broke the two apart, but over the course of some seventy odd years they never stopped loving one another. How that is the love Mr. Beauchamp yearns for with every new blue moon. Says the book, "Henri had never seen anyone like him, never seen a face as beautiful as his." Oh me, oh my, it's wonderful to see such a tale told in a middle grade children's novel. And boy oh boy, are some unsuspecting adults gonna get themselves a bit of a shock when they find out!
How do you sell this to kids? You've a world of options before you. You can sell the book as a mystery. After all, the whole story is leading up to the discovery of what actually happened to Keeper's mother (happily my she-drowned-in-the-ocean theory was wrongdy wrong wrong wrong). You can sell the book as a true mermaid tale, since Keeper systematically names all the different kinds of mermaid creatures different cultures have come up with around the world. You can sell it as an adventure story, with a girl battling nature itself on the seas (whether she expected to do so or not). And you can sell it as an animal lover story. Spoiler Alert: Unlike The Underneath not a single critter kicks it in this tale. Not even the crabs that might or might not have deserved it.
The fact of the matter is, it's a book that works for all sorts of folks for all sorts of different reasons. I always get a little wary when a bunch of folks like a new book and start recommending it to me. I worry that their opinions will raise my expectations too high and then I'm bound to be disappointed. That said, I can't help but agree with anyone and everyone who has raved about this. It's got kid appeal, amazing writing and storytelling, and a friggin' merman. Consider it a story worthy of the hype and one that's gonna win itself a whole new crew of Kathi Appelt fans. Plus it made me cry.
For ages 9-12.
How can a single day go so wrong? It wasn't supposed to be a bad day, after all. It was a day that was leading up to a sweet blue moon. But that was before ten-year-old Keeper ruined her guardian Signe's traditional crab gumbo by setting the crabs free. Before she inadvertently destroyed grandfatherly Mr. Beauchamp's most prized possessions. Before she was present when Dogie, a man she sees as a kind of father, watched as his hopes of asking Signe to marry him were dashed before his eyes. Now the only way Keeper can think to make amends is to cast off into the sea with just her dog B.D. in tow to find Meggie Marie. Meggie Marie is Keeper's mama and, she thinks, a mermaid as well. Along the way Keeper gives up the things that mean the most to her, and comes to appreciate the fact that it's people, not objects, that bind a family together. No matter how bad your day has been.
When Appelt wrote The Underneath it caused strong emotions in her readership. You loved it or you hated it. A couple folks didn't commit one way or another, but for the bulk of us that was it. Love or hate. Tempers seethed. Sharp words were exchanged. The important thing to remember is that folks were talking about a children's book. Their hearts got mixed into the discussion. It's a powerful writer that can wring such passion out of her readership, even if it results in debates over the quality of the book itself. The Underneath was a dark piece of writing hidden behind a kitten-laden cover. It confronted the nature of evil itself with a villain so nasty, reviewers couldn't even contest his lack of redeeming qualities. Keeper is an experiment in contrasts. Where The Underneath examined hate and bitterness, Keeper is about love, family, and forgiveness.
There is a note at the back of this book in the Acknowledgment section that strikes me as just as important as any word in the text itself. Writes Ms. Appelt of one Diane Linn, "She lovingly cast her knowledge of tides and currents and stingrays my way, and she asked me to consider heartbreak over anger." Heartbreak over anger. The very root of why Keeper goes traipsing out into the sea in a boat with only a dog by her side. Any book, heck most books, would have sent Keeper into that boat in the midst of a snit. Kids understand snits. They're experts in `em. But while a snit may help your plot along, it isn't as emotionally rewarding as good old-fashioned guilt. Keeper goes into that boat not because she's mad or even because she feels much affection for her absent mother, but because she's wholly convinced that she's ruined the lives of everyone she loves and this is the only way to rectify the situation. That packs the necessary emotional wallop the book requires, while also making Keeper a sympathetic character. Well played, Diane Linn.
I said earlier that Keeper stands in contrast to The Underneath and I'll stand by that, but the two books do have at least two things in common. For one thing, there's a fair amount of repetition to both texts that will madden a certain kind of reader. It peters out in "Keeper" after a little while, but like The Underneath it may cause a bit of irritation for folks who don't enjoy the cadences. Second, Ms. Appelt isn't afraid to take the point of view and toss it like a ball between her characters. For the most part, it's Keeper's eyes we see the world through, but around page eleven things change. Suddenly we're hearing Signe's story from her perspective. Then later it's Dogie, Mr. Beauchamp, a seagull, and the dogs. Such an effect should be jarring to the reader. Switch your focus too much and where do your loyalties lie as a reader? I suppose that's the point, though. Your loyalties lie with everyone. This is a family's story, in a sense. As such, you need all their perspectives. And except for a brief hiccup I experienced on page twelve, none of these changes to the p.o.v. struck me as anything but necessary to the book's storytelling.
In terms of the illustrator, I had to look up August Hall to see who the heck he was. The name was familiar but wasn't ringing any bells in my brain loudly enough to place him. A quick glance at his website and I see that he's an animator (a popular occupation to begin in if you're going to be a children's book illustrator these days). He's done covers to books like The Fairies of Nutfolk Wood and Antonio S. and the Mysterious Theodore Guzman. Apparently he even made his own picture book (Song and Juniper) back in the day. Still and all, all those books had a kind of cartoony quality to them. Keeper taps far more into Mr. Hall's ability to get at the core of a moment. Keeper's hand dangling into the current of the water, the porte-bonheur dangling about her neck. Or the image of the night blooming cyrus, crushed and broken on the ground. It was Hall's image of an 18-year-old Signe holding three-year-old Keeper in her arms in the sea, her face full of fury, that really tripped the switch on the old tear ducts, I'll admit it. And how interesting that he made Dogie black. The text says that he has dreadlocks, but I don't remember it specifying an ethnicity for him necessarily.
Which brings us to Ms. Appelt's brave choices in this book. There are two love stories in this book and both of them inadequately represented in the world of children's literature. I personally believe that Ms. Appelt always saw Dogie as African-American and for once it's nice that a person's ethnicity isn't given to be white if it's not mentioned in the text. In literature for children, teens, and adults, if race isn't mentioned then inevitably you're supposed to envision a character as white. Makes no sense. No sense at all. So August's illustrations provide part of the story, a story that consists of a white woman and a black man deeply in love. Even more interesting to me, though, is the tale of Mr. Beauchamp. We hear his tragic story in bits in pieces. How at the age of 14 he fell in love with a boy named Jack, who loved him too. How Jack's secret broke the two apart, but over the course of some seventy odd years they never stopped loving one another. How that is the love Mr. Beauchamp yearns for with every new blue moon. Says the book, "Henri had never seen anyone like him, never seen a face as beautiful as his." Oh me, oh my, it's wonderful to see such a tale told in a middle grade children's novel. And boy oh boy, are some unsuspecting adults gonna get themselves a bit of a shock when they find out!
How do you sell this to kids? You've a world of options before you. You can sell the book as a mystery. After all, the whole story is leading up to the discovery of what actually happened to Keeper's mother (happily my she-drowned-in-the-ocean theory was wrongdy wrong wrong wrong). You can sell the book as a true mermaid tale, since Keeper systematically names all the different kinds of mermaid creatures different cultures have come up with around the world. You can sell it as an adventure story, with a girl battling nature itself on the seas (whether she expected to do so or not). And you can sell it as an animal lover story. Spoiler Alert: Unlike The Underneath not a single critter kicks it in this tale. Not even the crabs that might or might not have deserved it.
The fact of the matter is, it's a book that works for all sorts of folks for all sorts of different reasons. I always get a little wary when a bunch of folks like a new book and start recommending it to me. I worry that their opinions will raise my expectations too high and then I'm bound to be disappointed. That said, I can't help but agree with anyone and everyone who has raved about this. It's got kid appeal, amazing writing and storytelling, and a friggin' merman. Consider it a story worthy of the hype and one that's gonna win itself a whole new crew of Kathi Appelt fans. Plus it made me cry.
For ages 9-12.
May 17, 2025
I am double minded about this book. As an adult I really enjoyed it - 4 stars worth. I really appreciated Appelt's poetic writing style and the self discovery that Keeper goes through during this story. I loved the community that the story is set in - the depth of relationships is important to the book. I also enjoyed the elements of fantasy and magic int he story. Are merpeople real?
On the other hand, as a teacher, I am more ambivalent about it. I think that it might be "a tough sell." First of all, it is a 400 page book. The chapters are short and the writing is clear so it is not a hard read, but it is not a quick read either. Also, Appelt tends to be somewhat repetitive. As an adult I understand her style, but I am not sure that the kids will.
On the other hand, as a teacher, I am more ambivalent about it. I think that it might be "a tough sell." First of all, it is a 400 page book. The chapters are short and the writing is clear so it is not a hard read, but it is not a quick read either. Also, Appelt tends to be somewhat repetitive. As an adult I understand her style, but I am not sure that the kids will.
October 29, 2017
Me to this lovely book : Thank you for the word and no, that word isn't Ningyo.
You know what I love about this book. It wasn't very clear whether an actual mermaid was involved in the story or not. But what there wasn't any ambiguity about was the love shown here. A mother's love.
An ocean isn't large enough hold the love a mother has for her daughter, or keep it for long. Is that a simplistic thing to say. Sure, but it's okay. You can take it and this haunting book is worth such kooky sappiness.
And how!
Our little heroine's mum fought the sea for her daughter, such a battle, and she got to Keep Her too. And that too in 2013. Well done, madam. Bravo.
It's rather sweet. It is nice to know that in a world where the magic in things is dwindling, mothers are the only creatures that are still very magical.
September 27, 2010
Mothers of potential readers of this book should read this review...
I decided to give Kathi Appelt one more try (The Underneath, remember?) And I knew I wouldn't be disappointed! This one bugged me too! Bad attitude, eh? Classic example: (it's referring to a seagull pet named Captain and a young girl named Keeper)
"Keeper would sometimes hand over something else, a strawberry or a potato chip or even his favorite, his most beloved, his all-time highest exalted sublime most delicious stultifyingly extremely wonderful marvelous fantastic yes yes yes: watermelon!
Captain loved watermelon.
Yep. He would do just about anything for a big, juicy chunk of watermelon. Anything, anything, anything." p. 181
But I felt I should warn you about this book. She likes words, as we know, and therefore her 2 books have lots of pages. However the pages turn quickly and each chapter lasts about 4 pages at the most. So I found myslf past the halfway mark, already deep into the main story and reading to find out what finally happens to Keeper--trying to figure things out. Then as I begin chapter 58 on page 223, I suddenly discover much to my suprise that Henri Beauchamp, the 'Grandpa who wasn't really her grandpa' had a gay lover at the age of 15. It describes him letting himself remember way back when, walking beside the plaza in his small French village by the sea, him finding Jack and then gives details of their gay encounter. Now this book is not adult fiction, or even in the TEEN section (which would still anger me). This book can be found in the CHILDREN'S section! That makes me so angry that this author made plans to weave a tale that seems to be meant for young children and then she bombards them with a sudden gay love interest that no one is prepared to have to deal with. There is no kind of warning on the cover or jacket description (which there definitely should be in my opinion, it being a children's book.) And if I'm not mistaken, I think this might be a Newberry Honor book. Shame on her. This one got left unfinished. I don't even want to know how it ends.
I decided to give Kathi Appelt one more try (The Underneath, remember?) And I knew I wouldn't be disappointed! This one bugged me too! Bad attitude, eh? Classic example: (it's referring to a seagull pet named Captain and a young girl named Keeper)
"Keeper would sometimes hand over something else, a strawberry or a potato chip or even his favorite, his most beloved, his all-time highest exalted sublime most delicious stultifyingly extremely wonderful marvelous fantastic yes yes yes: watermelon!
Captain loved watermelon.
Yep. He would do just about anything for a big, juicy chunk of watermelon. Anything, anything, anything." p. 181
But I felt I should warn you about this book. She likes words, as we know, and therefore her 2 books have lots of pages. However the pages turn quickly and each chapter lasts about 4 pages at the most. So I found myslf past the halfway mark, already deep into the main story and reading to find out what finally happens to Keeper--trying to figure things out. Then as I begin chapter 58 on page 223, I suddenly discover much to my suprise that Henri Beauchamp, the 'Grandpa who wasn't really her grandpa' had a gay lover at the age of 15. It describes him letting himself remember way back when, walking beside the plaza in his small French village by the sea, him finding Jack and then gives details of their gay encounter. Now this book is not adult fiction, or even in the TEEN section (which would still anger me). This book can be found in the CHILDREN'S section! That makes me so angry that this author made plans to weave a tale that seems to be meant for young children and then she bombards them with a sudden gay love interest that no one is prepared to have to deal with. There is no kind of warning on the cover or jacket description (which there definitely should be in my opinion, it being a children's book.) And if I'm not mistaken, I think this might be a Newberry Honor book. Shame on her. This one got left unfinished. I don't even want to know how it ends.
February 27, 2011
I found this at Powell's on sale, and autographed. I used my "random page" test and knew I must take this home to read with my daughter.
I'm usually a biography person because they are linear and easy to follow. This book was a pleasure from beginning to end, and unexpected. I was delighted by the back stories belonging to each character and found myself wanting to live on Oyster Ridge Road with these true friends.
I would recommend this book to anyone. My children begged for me to read this to them nightly - they are nine and six. My daughter could have easily read it on her own, but I wanted to enjoy it with them. I found myself as excited for our evening chapters as they were, if not more.
Keeper will live in my collection and will most likely be reread, although I think I'll let my children reread for I find once you know the solution to a mystery it's difficult to fain surprise. But when I look at the cover, I remember the joy of reading it with them and smile.
Thank you, Kathi Appelt for writing Keeper.
I'm usually a biography person because they are linear and easy to follow. This book was a pleasure from beginning to end, and unexpected. I was delighted by the back stories belonging to each character and found myself wanting to live on Oyster Ridge Road with these true friends.
I would recommend this book to anyone. My children begged for me to read this to them nightly - they are nine and six. My daughter could have easily read it on her own, but I wanted to enjoy it with them. I found myself as excited for our evening chapters as they were, if not more.
Keeper will live in my collection and will most likely be reread, although I think I'll let my children reread for I find once you know the solution to a mystery it's difficult to fain surprise. But when I look at the cover, I remember the joy of reading it with them and smile.
Thank you, Kathi Appelt for writing Keeper.
May 26, 2010
I'm hoping this one makes the short list for the Newbery...This is one of the most beautifully written children's novels I've read in some time. Our heroine, called by everyone Keeper, is a 10-year old girl whose mother left her when she was 3 in the care of her roommate, Signe. Born literally in the sea, Keeper believes her mother is a mermaid, and that her mother literally swam away from her to join the other mermaids. Keeper has made a life for herself in a tiny community on the Texas coast with her dog, BD (best dog), and neighbors who comprise her untraditional family. But when Keeper frees some crabs that were caught for crab gumbo, she sets into play a sequence of events that make her believe that only her mother, the mermaid, can help her. In the middle of the night she sets out to sea in a small boat belonging to her neighbor with only her dog and a remarkably tame seagull to help her. When a riptide pulls the small boat deep into the ocean, will Keeper's mother rescue her, or will other forms of magic come to her aid?
Appelt writes with such an original, poetic style in this "keeper" of a book--the story is filled with heartbreak, abandonment, magic, and finally the realization of love, which doesn't need to come from traditional sources. The story is told in a non-linear style, with the author interspersing the narration of Keeper's story with that of the other characters that live in her tiny world--using flashbacks to fill in the stories of all her neighbors, all of whom are well-realized and lovingly drawn characters. Even the dog, the seagull, and the neighbor's one-eyed pirate cat, Sinbad, are wonderfully realized characters. The beautiful black and white illustrations by August Hall add an air of mystery to the story.
Highly recommended for children 8 and up and adults who love children's literature.
Appelt writes with such an original, poetic style in this "keeper" of a book--the story is filled with heartbreak, abandonment, magic, and finally the realization of love, which doesn't need to come from traditional sources. The story is told in a non-linear style, with the author interspersing the narration of Keeper's story with that of the other characters that live in her tiny world--using flashbacks to fill in the stories of all her neighbors, all of whom are well-realized and lovingly drawn characters. Even the dog, the seagull, and the neighbor's one-eyed pirate cat, Sinbad, are wonderfully realized characters. The beautiful black and white illustrations by August Hall add an air of mystery to the story.
Highly recommended for children 8 and up and adults who love children's literature.
September 3, 2010
NOT a fan. I am sure Appelt is a lovely woman, but I started "reading" this book by listening to the audio version (Appelt reads) and it wasn't working for me at all. Her voice lacks inflection and flow for reading aloud effectively.
The actual story covers about 24 hours of action, apart from the numerous rabbit trails to explore the lives of those (including those of the animals) around the main character, Keeper. Much time is spent on reflection and introspection. I do not see this appealing to young people, and the pacing is painfully slow.
There is also an element of mermaids and mermaid folklore, which is on the one hand SPOILER: shown to be part of Keeper's misunderstandings and imagination and on the other an apparently legitimate part of a the story. The actual role of mermaids and mer-people playing out as Keeper's old next door neighbor's teenage lover is found to be a mer-man who in the end helps save Keeper and her dog, B.D.
In short, I did not enjoy reading this book.
The actual story covers about 24 hours of action, apart from the numerous rabbit trails to explore the lives of those (including those of the animals) around the main character, Keeper. Much time is spent on reflection and introspection. I do not see this appealing to young people, and the pacing is painfully slow.
There is also an element of mermaids and mermaid folklore, which is on the one hand SPOILER: shown to be part of Keeper's misunderstandings and imagination and on the other an apparently legitimate part of a the story. The actual role of mermaids and mer-people playing out as Keeper's old next door neighbor's teenage lover is found to be a mer-man who in the end helps save Keeper and her dog, B.D.
In short, I did not enjoy reading this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2010
I loved Appelt's Newbery-honor winning "The Underneath," and I couldn't WAIT to pick up her newest novel, Keeper, for ages 9-12. Betsy Bird gave it a wonderful review and it's on the short list for 2010 Newbery contenders. For me, it was an emotional read but I don't know what kid I would recommend this to. It's themes are very adult and the slow pace and themes about guilt and family and forgiveness not for many kids. That's why I hope it doesn't get the Newbery.
The book started slow for me, and it bothered me even more than "The Underneath" - the repetition in which Appelt repeats certain phrases or rehashes what's happening. I mean, it's over 100 short chapters, but most of about 80 chapters is about Keeper, a 10 year old girl, waiting for her boat to drift out to a sandbar. Most of the "action" is told about in recollections about what happened earlier in the day.
Keeper is 10 years old and lives in Tater, a tiny sea town south of Galveston, Texas. She is taken care of by Signe, a young woman with "spiky white hair" who is setting out to make crab gumbo on this, the night of the blue moon. We learn that Dogie is a dreadlock-wearing surfer (and ex-soldier from NJ) who has Keeper work as his "waxwing" (waxing surfboards), is practicing a "Marry me" song on his ukelele to sing to Signe that very night. Well, Keeper believes that her true mother, who left her when she was 3, is a mermaid, and Keeper feels as though she has mermaid blood, and the crabs "speak" to her not to be put in the gumbo. While Signe goes to the store, Keeper lets the crabs out of the pot, ruining the gumbo, accidentally breaking Signe's mother's wooden bowl (her only family memory). Keeper brings her dog, BD, to Dogie, to apologize for letting the crabs out, and the dog accidentally causes a ruckus which breaks Dogie's ukelele. Mr. Beauchamp, their only other neighbor, and his cat, Sinbad, also are disturbed by the dog, which knocks over his flowers, his night-blooming cyrus, which only bloom once a year.
Keeper, feeling so guilty about all this, decides to go out to the sandbar where she believes Meggie Marie, her mother, has been living as a mermaid for 7 years, and ask for Meggie Marie's help. Keeper gets in a bit of trouble when the tide washes her past the sandbar, knocking BD out of the boat. A seagull named Captain cries "C'mon! C'mon! in his seagull voice, waking up Dogie's dog Too (for Best Dog Too). Dogie, Too, and Signe eventually wake up to find Keeper washed ashore on the sandbar and BD on the shore. A merman from across the ocean in France felt someone wish on a "porte de bonheur" (good luck charm) and he pushed Keepr and BD to safety. Dogie asks Signe to marry him that very instant.
Interwoven into this story are two love stories - the story of Dogie and Signe, of course, and the story of how Signe has loved Keeper after Meggie Marie exhibited some crazy behavior on the night of Keeper's 3rd birthday...spinning her in the ocean in a wooden bowl, almost drowning her, forcing Signe to yell at Maggie to leave.
However...the love story that will make many pause is the story of two fifteen year old boys whose fingers intertwine, whose love and affection are shared. We learn that the old Henri Beauchamp, Mr. Beauchamp, grew up in a small village in France where he met a strange boy with blue eyes named Jack. Jack is tossing coins into a fountain one day. The boys fall in love and hold hands. ( We later learn that Jack is none other than Jack de Mer, a merman, whose true nature is shown by an old mer-woman who pushes Jack into the fountain and he turns into a "sea monster.")
Nevertheless, Henri loves Jack and hopes to see him again...but years pass as he spends his life alone on Tater's coast. The book ends with them being reunited because of his helping Keeper.
Got all that? Whew. Not for everybody. I don't think I'll get it for my K-4 library.
The book started slow for me, and it bothered me even more than "The Underneath" - the repetition in which Appelt repeats certain phrases or rehashes what's happening. I mean, it's over 100 short chapters, but most of about 80 chapters is about Keeper, a 10 year old girl, waiting for her boat to drift out to a sandbar. Most of the "action" is told about in recollections about what happened earlier in the day.
Keeper is 10 years old and lives in Tater, a tiny sea town south of Galveston, Texas. She is taken care of by Signe, a young woman with "spiky white hair" who is setting out to make crab gumbo on this, the night of the blue moon. We learn that Dogie is a dreadlock-wearing surfer (and ex-soldier from NJ) who has Keeper work as his "waxwing" (waxing surfboards), is practicing a "Marry me" song on his ukelele to sing to Signe that very night. Well, Keeper believes that her true mother, who left her when she was 3, is a mermaid, and Keeper feels as though she has mermaid blood, and the crabs "speak" to her not to be put in the gumbo. While Signe goes to the store, Keeper lets the crabs out of the pot, ruining the gumbo, accidentally breaking Signe's mother's wooden bowl (her only family memory). Keeper brings her dog, BD, to Dogie, to apologize for letting the crabs out, and the dog accidentally causes a ruckus which breaks Dogie's ukelele. Mr. Beauchamp, their only other neighbor, and his cat, Sinbad, also are disturbed by the dog, which knocks over his flowers, his night-blooming cyrus, which only bloom once a year.
Keeper, feeling so guilty about all this, decides to go out to the sandbar where she believes Meggie Marie, her mother, has been living as a mermaid for 7 years, and ask for Meggie Marie's help. Keeper gets in a bit of trouble when the tide washes her past the sandbar, knocking BD out of the boat. A seagull named Captain cries "C'mon! C'mon! in his seagull voice, waking up Dogie's dog Too (for Best Dog Too). Dogie, Too, and Signe eventually wake up to find Keeper washed ashore on the sandbar and BD on the shore. A merman from across the ocean in France felt someone wish on a "porte de bonheur" (good luck charm) and he pushed Keepr and BD to safety. Dogie asks Signe to marry him that very instant.
Interwoven into this story are two love stories - the story of Dogie and Signe, of course, and the story of how Signe has loved Keeper after Meggie Marie exhibited some crazy behavior on the night of Keeper's 3rd birthday...spinning her in the ocean in a wooden bowl, almost drowning her, forcing Signe to yell at Maggie to leave.
However...the love story that will make many pause is the story of two fifteen year old boys whose fingers intertwine, whose love and affection are shared. We learn that the old Henri Beauchamp, Mr. Beauchamp, grew up in a small village in France where he met a strange boy with blue eyes named Jack. Jack is tossing coins into a fountain one day. The boys fall in love and hold hands. ( We later learn that Jack is none other than Jack de Mer, a merman, whose true nature is shown by an old mer-woman who pushes Jack into the fountain and he turns into a "sea monster.")
Nevertheless, Henri loves Jack and hopes to see him again...but years pass as he spends his life alone on Tater's coast. The book ends with them being reunited because of his helping Keeper.
Got all that? Whew. Not for everybody. I don't think I'll get it for my K-4 library.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2020
Câu chuyện về một cô bé với thế giới khép kín của mình với biển, những con vật tinh nghịch và những người mà cô bé yêu.
Có lẽ trẻ con, hay kể cả người lớn, đều sẽ không biết được rằng mình đang hạnh phúc đến dường nào nếu không một lần vô tình bị đẩy ra khỏi vòng lặp an toàn thường nhật. Thi thoảng sóng gió nên đến và qua đi để con người ta biết trân trọng mọi thứ và con người xung quanh mình nhiều hơn.
Một câu chuyện đúng chất dành cho thiếu nhi, dễ đọc và nhẹ nhàng.
Có lẽ trẻ con, hay kể cả người lớn, đều sẽ không biết được rằng mình đang hạnh phúc đến dường nào nếu không một lần vô tình bị đẩy ra khỏi vòng lặp an toàn thường nhật. Thi thoảng sóng gió nên đến và qua đi để con người ta biết trân trọng mọi thứ và con người xung quanh mình nhiều hơn.
Một câu chuyện đúng chất dành cho thiếu nhi, dễ đọc và nhẹ nhàng.
July 2, 2018
Unique characters, beautiful illustrations, and a nice plot. But I think that this book included some unlikely events. I do realize that this book's genre is fantasy but some things that Keeper accomplished required bravery and apparently not that much thinking.
I was also kind of confused where Signe, Keeper's guardian mentioned that manatees didn't exist. Aren't manatees the ones also known as sea cows?
Something else I want to bring up is that I thought it was particularly interesting* that Álva Núñez Cabeza de Vaca's (a real person!) last name means cow head!
*choose your own definition of 'particularly interesting'...
I was also kind of confused where Signe, Keeper's guardian mentioned that manatees didn't exist. Aren't manatees the ones also known as sea cows?
Something else I want to bring up is that I thought it was particularly interesting* that Álva Núñez Cabeza de Vaca's (a real person!) last name means cow head!
*choose your own definition of 'particularly interesting'...
July 23, 2010
I was doubtful when I picked up Kathi Appelt's book, despite so many trusted readerly friends urging me to do so. Her Underneath was one of the few books I abandoned in recent years, and I couldn't sell it to any of my student readers (though one marked it as her cornerstone book of the year). But with so much attention being given to Keeper, my summer reading wouldn't be complete if I didn't turn the pages on this one. Sadly, as I began reading, I found myself thinking it would rate just as Underneath did: in the "abandoned books" shelf. Oh, how wrong I was.
There is so much right with Appelt's book. Her story builds slowly, adding important tidbits of information to the reader bit by bit. The clever way she zig zags back and forth from the present to the past builds real muscles for younger readers, and creates a sense of interest and drama that wouldn't be present otherwise. The intense love that Signe felt about Keeper and Dogie made me fall in love with all three of the characters. Even BD the dog and Captain the seagull had distinct personalities fleshed out as the book ran along! I loved the wonderful mix of genres, and how not until the end of the book does the (younger) reader realize the magical elements were merely a figment of a ten year old's overactive imagination. But isn't that what life should be about? We should hold onto the magical elements no matter how old we are, like Mr. Beauchamp and his dutiful one-eyed cat(s). Appelt's Keeper is proof that family, no matter how it is formed, is a keeper.
Sadly, I do have one concern about this magnificent book. Although I have placed Keeper on top of my middle grade son's stack of books to be read, I do have a sense of worry when I think about adding it to my own fifth grader's bookshelves. Initially, I listed Keeper as a possible read aloud. I know now, after having read it, that I would not. But would I put it on the shelf of my classroom? My heart says, "YES!" My fear holds me back. It saddens me that I have even an ounce of fear about parent complaints where Mr. Beauchamp and Jack's relationship are concerned. According to respected reviewers, the recommended age ranges from 8-12. But still, I worry. To me, love is love. To the world it can be an area of great discord.
Gems:
-Sometimes knowing how long you had to wait for something made the waiting easier. (p. 82)
-The entire four page explanation of how Dogie knew he loved Signe.
-"an invisible spider of worry crawled up her spine." (p. 184)
-He frowned, then found a dishcloth and covered it. It reminded him of the way people cover a person's face after they've died. Sadness inched its way up his fingers. (p. 311)
There is so much right with Appelt's book. Her story builds slowly, adding important tidbits of information to the reader bit by bit. The clever way she zig zags back and forth from the present to the past builds real muscles for younger readers, and creates a sense of interest and drama that wouldn't be present otherwise. The intense love that Signe felt about Keeper and Dogie made me fall in love with all three of the characters. Even BD the dog and Captain the seagull had distinct personalities fleshed out as the book ran along! I loved the wonderful mix of genres, and how not until the end of the book does the (younger) reader realize the magical elements were merely a figment of a ten year old's overactive imagination. But isn't that what life should be about? We should hold onto the magical elements no matter how old we are, like Mr. Beauchamp and his dutiful one-eyed cat(s). Appelt's Keeper is proof that family, no matter how it is formed, is a keeper.
Sadly, I do have one concern about this magnificent book. Although I have placed Keeper on top of my middle grade son's stack of books to be read, I do have a sense of worry when I think about adding it to my own fifth grader's bookshelves. Initially, I listed Keeper as a possible read aloud. I know now, after having read it, that I would not. But would I put it on the shelf of my classroom? My heart says, "YES!" My fear holds me back. It saddens me that I have even an ounce of fear about parent complaints where Mr. Beauchamp and Jack's relationship are concerned. According to respected reviewers, the recommended age ranges from 8-12. But still, I worry. To me, love is love. To the world it can be an area of great discord.
Gems:
-Sometimes knowing how long you had to wait for something made the waiting easier. (p. 82)
-The entire four page explanation of how Dogie knew he loved Signe.
-"an invisible spider of worry crawled up her spine." (p. 184)
-He frowned, then found a dishcloth and covered it. It reminded him of the way people cover a person's face after they've died. Sadness inched its way up his fingers. (p. 311)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2011
I have very mixed feelings about this book. Two stars? Three stars? One star? I could make a case for all of those ratings. I am sure my expectations were way too high, after just reading "The Underneath" by the same author, which was absolutely amazing. "Keeper" just didn't do it for me. I had a hard time getting into the story, unlike "The Underneath" which entranced me from start to finish. I did enjoy it's originality, and the blend of reality and fantasy, but sometimes original became just plain weird. Maybe I'm injecting my adulthood into this, but there was a particular element in the story that I felt was unnecessary and borderline inappropriate for a children's book, even for older kids. If you've read it, you probably know what I mean, and I think it detracts from the effectiveness of the story. True, it might go right over their heads, but I was rather taken aback by it, and it made the whole read much less satisfying for me. That and other adult elements in the story seemed a little out of place. I don't mind books that challenge my children's views of the world, but I don't think I liked where this one led. Bottom line - Read "The Underneath". "Keeper"? It has its moments, but I definitely didn't love it, and I am trying to decide if I even liked it.
November 10, 2012
You know how there are some people who really like fire and others who really like water? Well, I think I am both. I love the ocean, yet I also love a nice bonfire. Keeper by Kathi Appelt called to mind a glorious vacation by the ocean which I once had. I read this entire book in the car in less than two hours. I know its weird, but I like to sit in the car while my boyfriend coaches soccer. There are no distractions and I get a lot of reading done during his games. While I read this, I was not in the car, I was transported to a beach near the Gulf of Mexico. Keeper just had this tangible salt air taste to it. Upon closing the book, I was sad to be in upstate NY and not on some beach.
Read the rest of my review here
Read the rest of my review here
January 16, 2018
I read this book in Vietnamese, and previously found this one totally new with 50% discount like one or two years ago. But as what people have said, this book is so much more than that, itself is such an amazing and unpredictable ocean that you can hold in your hand.
Keeper is a little sparkle but her warmness could embrace every heart that is beating. The story of her and her troubles and her belief toward an ocean, are all beautiful in a simple and easy-going way.
I could imagine it all like a movie, something magical and smooth and adventurous and grand, something we have never witnessed before. This one is so highly-recommended.
Keeper is a little sparkle but her warmness could embrace every heart that is beating. The story of her and her troubles and her belief toward an ocean, are all beautiful in a simple and easy-going way.
I could imagine it all like a movie, something magical and smooth and adventurous and grand, something we have never witnessed before. This one is so highly-recommended.
March 12, 2021
2.5/5
Okay...I was not this books intended audience and I get that. But also, it is far too long for what it is. Yeah it’s easy to flip through the pages fast but it had no business being 400 pages. There was SO much needless repetition and then I felt like we learned all this interesting character development stuff right at the end. Plus I was infuriated by the premise which is that a little girl thinks she’s in big trouble because everyone is communicating poorly then puts herself in grave danger by going out in a boat along at night to find a mermaid. Also the big reveal I saw coming a mile away.
Okay...I was not this books intended audience and I get that. But also, it is far too long for what it is. Yeah it’s easy to flip through the pages fast but it had no business being 400 pages. There was SO much needless repetition and then I felt like we learned all this interesting character development stuff right at the end. Plus I was infuriated by the premise which is that a little girl thinks she’s in big trouble because everyone is communicating poorly then puts herself in grave danger by going out in a boat along at night to find a mermaid. Also the big reveal I saw coming a mile away.
June 5, 2021
This book is an interesting mix. There's some true-to-life and some fantasy. The main character is a ten-year-old girl, Keeper. Her thought patterns and actions are believable. I had a little difficulty suspending disbelief with some of the fantasy. I had a little trouble with the changing of points of view, though it helps that everyone has their own chapters. Even the animals' points of view are represented. I like the playful language. I like the occasional super-short chapters. This one is a quick and easy read.
June 28, 2017
Would not recommend to younger readers (or anyone). A homosexual couple is woven through the book. Pretty distasteful, for such an enjoyable writing style.
July 21, 2017
Best book I've ever read!
August 9, 2024
i never ended up finishing this book. i never got super into it and it kinda felt like a chore reading it.
December 30, 2010
Can see this one taking home a Newbery honor this year. The story covers a single day in the life of Keeper, a 10 year old Texan who fancies herself part mermaid, and her Oyster Road family, essentially a foster family of neighbors who have been looking after Keeper since her mom ran off (or did she swim off?) when she was just three years old. And it's a doozey of a day. What is supposed to be a perfect afternoon of preparation followed by a perfect blue moon evening (with a traditional blue moon gumbo simmering on the stove and a wedding proposal planned), turns into a huge mess, when every effort Keeper makes to rectify a mistake, turns into an ever bigger, and increasingly more serious problem; screwing up dinner plans seems like small potatoes when you're stranded out at sea, afterall.
A clever weaving of myth and heart-yanking painful truth, where the fantasies of childhood feel more like lies when the reality behind their origin is revealed. But the truth, though sometimes hurtful to stumble upon, can also be way more magical. Turns out your parents generosity is actually more amazing than Santa Claus. That sort of thing. What you've got is better than the fantasy you'd be playing at.
One of the things that surprised and pleased me most about this story was how much I enjoyed and cared for the animal characters. I don't know that I've ever said that about a book before. Animal tales aren't my thing, and never have been. Black Beauty bored me, I never had any interest in Shiloh or Winn Dixie, but Captain the seagull, Too the pup, BD the dog, and Sinbad the cat and their relationship to one another and the human characters as well are all completely endearing. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that they're real animals. I can believe their behaviors. Appelt describes their companionship, their protectiveness, their instictiveness, and their humor perfectly.
There were points in the book where Keeper's loses felt so great, even the ones she inflicted on herself (throwing her beautiful mermaid carvings out to sea, for example. I know I wouldn't have been able to part with them) that I found myself shouting "no! don't do it!" in my head. And I was seriously going to be upset if anything happened to BD.
Another thing Appelt does well is time the release of her information. We learn about the history of Meggy Marie and Signe right along with Keeper, as she has time to ponder things while carrying out her quest. We learn about Jacques de Mer/Jack and Mr. Beauchamp slowly, throughout the text. Same thing with Dogie. We have to work for that information, but you're always kept interested, and you're always rewarded by the details and characteristics Appelt choses to share, because they're all quite enriching, some are surprising (Beauchamp's relationship with Jack, for example, and the very nature of Jack himself) and tie together so nicely in the end. My only complaint with the novel would be that this slow unraveling creates a longer story than you'd otherwise have. That's fine, of course, but lead to quite a bit of repeating. A lot of things were stated over and over again for what I assume was intended as poetic effect. I wasn't exactly charmed though. Instead I felt like okay, we're here. We're reading the story. No need to keep telling us what's already happened.
Really beautiful illustration, and at just the right moments, though I certainly would have liked to see even more.
A solid little book.
A clever weaving of myth and heart-yanking painful truth, where the fantasies of childhood feel more like lies when the reality behind their origin is revealed. But the truth, though sometimes hurtful to stumble upon, can also be way more magical. Turns out your parents generosity is actually more amazing than Santa Claus. That sort of thing. What you've got is better than the fantasy you'd be playing at.
One of the things that surprised and pleased me most about this story was how much I enjoyed and cared for the animal characters. I don't know that I've ever said that about a book before. Animal tales aren't my thing, and never have been. Black Beauty bored me, I never had any interest in Shiloh or Winn Dixie, but Captain the seagull, Too the pup, BD the dog, and Sinbad the cat and their relationship to one another and the human characters as well are all completely endearing. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that they're real animals. I can believe their behaviors. Appelt describes their companionship, their protectiveness, their instictiveness, and their humor perfectly.
There were points in the book where Keeper's loses felt so great, even the ones she inflicted on herself (throwing her beautiful mermaid carvings out to sea, for example. I know I wouldn't have been able to part with them) that I found myself shouting "no! don't do it!" in my head. And I was seriously going to be upset if anything happened to BD.
Another thing Appelt does well is time the release of her information. We learn about the history of Meggy Marie and Signe right along with Keeper, as she has time to ponder things while carrying out her quest. We learn about Jacques de Mer/Jack and Mr. Beauchamp slowly, throughout the text. Same thing with Dogie. We have to work for that information, but you're always kept interested, and you're always rewarded by the details and characteristics Appelt choses to share, because they're all quite enriching, some are surprising (Beauchamp's relationship with Jack, for example, and the very nature of Jack himself) and tie together so nicely in the end. My only complaint with the novel would be that this slow unraveling creates a longer story than you'd otherwise have. That's fine, of course, but lead to quite a bit of repeating. A lot of things were stated over and over again for what I assume was intended as poetic effect. I wasn't exactly charmed though. Instead I felt like okay, we're here. We're reading the story. No need to keep telling us what's already happened.
Really beautiful illustration, and at just the right moments, though I certainly would have liked to see even more.
A solid little book.
May 20, 2010
Mini Synopsis: This is a children’s and pre-teen book where the main character is Keeper. She is an almost ten year old girl who lives on the beach by the gulf of Mexico in Texas. There are a menagerie of animals in her life - two dogs, a cat, and a seagull, but what is special is that she can hear them talk.
She is well loved and cared for by Signe, her mom by default, their friend Dogie (a healing war veteran turned local surf board rental guy), and an old Russian sailor named Mr. Beauchamp. Keeper is like many young girls of that age, still believing in the magical, which includes ghosts and “merfolk”.
One particularly bad day she gets herself into very hot water, or should I say ocean water, in an attempt to find her “real mother” whom she believes to be a mermaid. We can only imagine what can happen here, as myth and folklore are combined and fantasy seamlessly blends into reality in this sweet and heart wrenching tale.
My Thoughts: I loved this little book because it is a wonderful introduction to multicultural mermaid lore for a youngster (and in my case, adult). The author includes “merfolk” from different cultures within the story including characters whom are multicultural as well; their ethnicity is not completely defined. Because of these elements and more I believe Keeper will be an excellent teaching tool. It can be used as a spin-off for lessons on water safety, myth/fairy-tales/folklore and their definitions and differences, some science based lessons on geology and marine biology, as well as the defining of reality and make believe. All are important concepts in a growing mind, and if I remember correctly are included in many state curriculum.
Examining things further with the theme of adult “joint or supervised read”, the book has a number of time shifts where the author goes back and forth between the present and the past giving the story a complexity which some younger readers may struggle with, if not explained by or discussed with an adult. The story also includes issues around abandonment, as well as the importance of creating family ritual, which a younger reader may not completely understand unless they are discussed. These all can be very good things if the book is moderated.
In addition the book contains illustrations which are simple that will interest a younger reader transitioning into more wordy books. The author also has a way of creating simple yet very deep and meaningful language which cuts to one’s heart and which is lovely for both children and adults. I think that the most special aspect of the story is that it contains several wonderful and key GLBT characters. Lastly, the ending is the type which I prefer, not completely that of a fairytale but with a slight tweak making one think, feel, and remember.
Highly recommended reading for adults who like myth and folklore mixed with realism, and for those who read to and teach children. As for children I would say all but a few will love it. I am rating this a 4 stars. I imagine that this story will be nominated for a variety or children’s book award.
August 20, 2010
Once in a while, I read a book that pulls me into a different world and wraps me the threads of its characters' stories. Keeper, by Kathi Appelt, is a mesmerizing, beautiful story that is one of the very best books I've read in a long time. It would make a wonderful family read-aloud, with many themes or issues to talk about and beautiful writing to enjoy.
Ten-year-old Keeper has had a terrible day. Everything went wrong, and it was a blue moon - it was supposed to be a perfect, extra-special day. But no, the stupid crabs ruined everything.
But Keeper has a plan - she will set things right. Her mermaid mother will know just what to do, if only she can find her. Then all will be right in this small part of the Texas coast, Keeper's world all unto itself. So Keeper and B.D. (Best Dog) climb into a small row boat and let the tide pull them out into the Gulf to the sandbar where Keeper is convinced her mother will find her.
This is a complex, layered story that weaves flashbacks to flesh out the stories of each resident of Oyster Ridge Road, a small fictional town on the Gulf coast of Texas. Keeper's mother left when Keeper was three, and Signe has been raising her ever since. Dogie, their neighbor and good friend, runs a surf shop out of his bus. He's a war vet who has been in love with Signe for ten years. And Mr. Beauchamp, a man as old as barnacles, is waiting for a wish to come true. Appelt draws the threads of each of these characters, sharing their flashbacks and memories, as they deal with the disappointments of this blue moon night.
There's a note in the final acknowledgments that stuck with me. Diane Linn asked Kathi Appelt to "consider heartbreak over anger." That's a weighty sentiment, and it shines through this wonderful book. Each character wrestled with their pain and heartbreak, but each comes through because they don't succumb to anger. And the people and animals in this small corner of the universe turn to those they love to find their strength and grounding.
I also loved the nontraditional family that comes together in this story. It felt completely natural, one that children will be drawn to. Dogie and Signe's love is inter-racial, and that is not an issue at all. And Mr. Beauchamp recalls his poignant love for another boy many years ago, when they were both 15. Ms. Appelt does a wonderful job drawing these relationships in a subtle, but heartfelt way.
I'm concerned that students will find the complex structure difficult, but I firmly believe it's important to share all types of stories with students - not just straightforward, action-driven plots, but also stories that weave together many strands to make a complex tapestry. Even more importantly, it's important not to underestimate what kids can absorb. Let them ask questions, let them know it's OK to muddle through, but encourage them to read stories that speak to them. And Keeper will speak to kids. She's an authentic character, a kid full of hopes and fears, a kid who's determined to try to fix things all by herself, a kid who knows about the moon and the tides but who also firmly believes in mermaids and magic.
Ten-year-old Keeper has had a terrible day. Everything went wrong, and it was a blue moon - it was supposed to be a perfect, extra-special day. But no, the stupid crabs ruined everything.
But Keeper has a plan - she will set things right. Her mermaid mother will know just what to do, if only she can find her. Then all will be right in this small part of the Texas coast, Keeper's world all unto itself. So Keeper and B.D. (Best Dog) climb into a small row boat and let the tide pull them out into the Gulf to the sandbar where Keeper is convinced her mother will find her.
This is a complex, layered story that weaves flashbacks to flesh out the stories of each resident of Oyster Ridge Road, a small fictional town on the Gulf coast of Texas. Keeper's mother left when Keeper was three, and Signe has been raising her ever since. Dogie, their neighbor and good friend, runs a surf shop out of his bus. He's a war vet who has been in love with Signe for ten years. And Mr. Beauchamp, a man as old as barnacles, is waiting for a wish to come true. Appelt draws the threads of each of these characters, sharing their flashbacks and memories, as they deal with the disappointments of this blue moon night.
There's a note in the final acknowledgments that stuck with me. Diane Linn asked Kathi Appelt to "consider heartbreak over anger." That's a weighty sentiment, and it shines through this wonderful book. Each character wrestled with their pain and heartbreak, but each comes through because they don't succumb to anger. And the people and animals in this small corner of the universe turn to those they love to find their strength and grounding.
I also loved the nontraditional family that comes together in this story. It felt completely natural, one that children will be drawn to. Dogie and Signe's love is inter-racial, and that is not an issue at all. And Mr. Beauchamp recalls his poignant love for another boy many years ago, when they were both 15. Ms. Appelt does a wonderful job drawing these relationships in a subtle, but heartfelt way.
I'm concerned that students will find the complex structure difficult, but I firmly believe it's important to share all types of stories with students - not just straightforward, action-driven plots, but also stories that weave together many strands to make a complex tapestry. Even more importantly, it's important not to underestimate what kids can absorb. Let them ask questions, let them know it's OK to muddle through, but encourage them to read stories that speak to them. And Keeper will speak to kids. She's an authentic character, a kid full of hopes and fears, a kid who's determined to try to fix things all by herself, a kid who knows about the moon and the tides but who also firmly believes in mermaids and magic.
Read
December 5, 2012Appelt, Kathi. (2010). keeper. New York: Simon & Schuster/Atheneum. 409 pp. ISBN 978-1-4169-5060-8 (Hard Cover); $16.99.
Ten crabs work magic on Keeper and turn what should be a perfect blue moon day into a perfect nightmare. Keeper creates the perfect plan for repairing damage. The key is finding her mermaid mother.
Somehow I missed reviewing this marvelous book last season! I love writing in which central metaphors are reinforced by the text structure—that perfect blend of form and style. In this book we have repeated phrases and images returning over and over and over again—just like the tides and the moons that are so central to this story: “Easy peasy,” “If you give a wish…,” “You stupid crabs,” “Questions for the universe.” See also the way the page is formatted on page 337 (or 130 or 173 or 275 or 337). Throughout this novel Appelt uses repetition and page layout to reinforce the meaning. Another astonishing notable aspect of this book is its love story between Mr. Beauchamp and Jack in a middle grade book. There is no problem, no repercussions, no judgment—just two boys and then later two old men holding hands. There is no need to justify, there is just a long overdue acknowledgement that love has many forms of expression that are appropriate for a children’s book. Likewise we have Doggie with his dreads (385) and no explanation from Appelt germane to his race. Appelt very subtly shows (without telling) many things in this book. Perhaps my favorite comes at the end. Doggie has been practicing and practicing his two word love song, which he can sing without hesitations, but cannot say. However, when he thinks Keeper may be lost at sea, he is able to shout, without stuttering, very clearly and very emphatically (pp. 371-373). Contrast this with Doggie’s attempt to say Keeper on page 152 and 154. And on page 376 Doggie says clearly and without thinking about talking, “Let’s just wait.” On page 157 we know that Doggie has trouble with words that begin with L. Appelt does not need to mention that on page 371 this is the first time Doggie has not stuttered when he speaks. He does not stutter for the rest of the book and I really appreciate the fact that Appelt does not feel the need to mention whether or not he is cured (because chances are that he stuttered saying his wedding vows). Doggie is Doggie, the man Signe and Keeper love—with his speech impediment, with his hair, with his skin color—just the way he is and it isn’t necessary to highlight these details because what is important is the love he has for Signe and Keeper, the love he has always had. The magical realism works with this story and allows the reader to accept the coincidences of the luck charm and of Jack. It allows space in Keeper’s heart for her mother without painting a rosy picture of the mother. This allows the central theme of “What is family?” to sail more freely.
Ten crabs work magic on Keeper and turn what should be a perfect blue moon day into a perfect nightmare. Keeper creates the perfect plan for repairing damage. The key is finding her mermaid mother.
Somehow I missed reviewing this marvelous book last season! I love writing in which central metaphors are reinforced by the text structure—that perfect blend of form and style. In this book we have repeated phrases and images returning over and over and over again—just like the tides and the moons that are so central to this story: “Easy peasy,” “If you give a wish…,” “You stupid crabs,” “Questions for the universe.” See also the way the page is formatted on page 337 (or 130 or 173 or 275 or 337). Throughout this novel Appelt uses repetition and page layout to reinforce the meaning. Another astonishing notable aspect of this book is its love story between Mr. Beauchamp and Jack in a middle grade book. There is no problem, no repercussions, no judgment—just two boys and then later two old men holding hands. There is no need to justify, there is just a long overdue acknowledgement that love has many forms of expression that are appropriate for a children’s book. Likewise we have Doggie with his dreads (385) and no explanation from Appelt germane to his race. Appelt very subtly shows (without telling) many things in this book. Perhaps my favorite comes at the end. Doggie has been practicing and practicing his two word love song, which he can sing without hesitations, but cannot say. However, when he thinks Keeper may be lost at sea, he is able to shout, without stuttering, very clearly and very emphatically (pp. 371-373). Contrast this with Doggie’s attempt to say Keeper on page 152 and 154. And on page 376 Doggie says clearly and without thinking about talking, “Let’s just wait.” On page 157 we know that Doggie has trouble with words that begin with L. Appelt does not need to mention that on page 371 this is the first time Doggie has not stuttered when he speaks. He does not stutter for the rest of the book and I really appreciate the fact that Appelt does not feel the need to mention whether or not he is cured (because chances are that he stuttered saying his wedding vows). Doggie is Doggie, the man Signe and Keeper love—with his speech impediment, with his hair, with his skin color—just the way he is and it isn’t necessary to highlight these details because what is important is the love he has for Signe and Keeper, the love he has always had. The magical realism works with this story and allows the reader to accept the coincidences of the luck charm and of Jack. It allows space in Keeper’s heart for her mother without painting a rosy picture of the mother. This allows the central theme of “What is family?” to sail more freely.
September 3, 2012
Being a big fan of mermaids and having a small collection of mermaid pieces, I was excited about reading Kathi Appelt's novel, Keeper. I can happily say that it is a delightful read in which the possibility of mermaids and other magical occurrences capture your imagination and take it to a place of suspended belief. Another of my favorite objects, the full moon, is in play in this tale, too. In fact, it is a blue moon, the second full moon of a month, and I had just experienced a blue moon when I started reading this story. It's as if the heavens were aligned, which only increased my pleasure in the reading. Keeper is a 10-year-old girl who lives along the coast of Texas on an isolated oyster shell road at the foot of a salt grass marsh and narrow beach. There are only four human inhabitants, including her, on this small stretch, and none of them are blood-related. However, not only blood makes family, which is one of the precious truths to be gleaned from this sweet, sweet novel. Besides Keeper, there is Signe, Keeper's mother figure since age 3 and who left her native Iowa ten years back for a better life ; Dogie, a lost soul who ends up finding his peace in this "other-world" after serving in the combat; and Mr. Beauchamp, an elderly gentleman originally from France who is waiting on something or someone. There are the charming animals that include B.D. (Best Dog), Captain the tame seagull, Too (Best Dog Too), and the one-eyed cat Sinbad. The characters, both human and animal are ones that the reader wishes to know, and through Appelt's fine writing, a most satisfying knowledge is achieved. On the night of the magical "blue moon," Keeper undertakes a dangerous journey into the waters of the Gulf to try to set right the disasters of the day for which she holds herself responsible. It seems everyone's plans for a most special night have been shattered as a result of the crabs for Signe's crab gumbo calling out to Keeper to be set free. There follows a domino effect of disasters, and Keeper feels only her connection to mermaids will turn her upside-down world upright again. Everyone on Oyster Ridge Road will be forever changed by the bravery of one small girl.
November 28, 2010
Keeper is ten years old and believes her mother is a mermaid who has returned to the sea. She lives on a small sandy stretch of beach off of the Texas Gulf Coast with Signe, her adoptive mother, Dogie, who rents surfboards to toursits, and their neighbor, an elderly seaman. The cast of characters includes a charismatic seagull, 2 dogs, and an ancient cat. The story is blend of magical realism and a coming of age story as Keeper realizes that her mother may not be what Keeper has always believed. The story centers around one day, a summer blue moon, full of promise and potential that turns into an unfortunate cascade of accidents big and small that ruin the day. Keeper, sure that everyone she loves is mad and disappointed in her, decides to call upon Yemaya, the queen of the mermaids, to help her find her mother to put things right. While Signe is decidedly practical and mature for a twenty-five year old saddled with the sudden burden of caring for a child when Meggie Marie abandons her responsibilities, she fails to see the magic around her. Mr. Beauchamp, the elderly neighbor, knows there are inexplicable things in the world and that love should be embraced when it finds you. He pines for a lost love from his youth. Dogie, suffering post traumatic stress from his time serving in the war, loves Signe, but cannot find the words to tell her. The night of the blue moon was supposed to make everyone's dreams come true, until 10 crabs wreak havoc on the day.
I liked parts of the story but I found the repetitiveness of significant lines a bit gimmicky and tedious. It seems like the story was as slow to come in as the tide Keeper is waiting on to take her to her mother. And perhaps, Appelt meant for just that rhythm. I did not particularly care for it. And while love can and does take many forms, I found it a bit surprising that Henri's lost love was Jacques, a merman. It's my favorite of the KC Mock Newbery nominees so far, but I am hoping the selections will get better! I just don't see this title appealing to a lot of young adults. Much the same with The Underneath, which I did like very much, but hasn't been popular with my students at all.
I liked parts of the story but I found the repetitiveness of significant lines a bit gimmicky and tedious. It seems like the story was as slow to come in as the tide Keeper is waiting on to take her to her mother. And perhaps, Appelt meant for just that rhythm. I did not particularly care for it. And while love can and does take many forms, I found it a bit surprising that Henri's lost love was Jacques, a merman. It's my favorite of the KC Mock Newbery nominees so far, but I am hoping the selections will get better! I just don't see this title appealing to a lot of young adults. Much the same with The Underneath, which I did like very much, but hasn't been popular with my students at all.
June 5, 2011
I was very much looking forward to reading this book, and it was as wonderful as I had hoped it would be, though not in the way I expected.
I knew it was going to be a story with small events and quiet magic, but at first it looked as if maybe the magic was going to be that grown-up thing that I always hated as a kid: “Oh, the real magic is the beauty of ordinary life, my dear.” Grrr. Yes, okay, ordinary life has magic to it, but sometimes I want more magical magic. And I wanted it for this story, and I feared I wouldn’t get it.
Here’s the thing, though. First, as the author gradually worked in the stories of the people and animals surrounding Keeper (the ten-year-old protagonist), I found myself loving them so powerfully that I wasn’t even going to mind about the lack of magic.
And then, there was real magic, after all—magic, connected with love. Wonderful.
But back to those people and animals. What made me love this story with a powerful love was how it showed people and animals coming together to make a family. With the exception of Keeper, none of the people living on Oyster Ridge Road began there. Signe, who has been a mother to Keeper ever since Keeper’s own mother, a mermaid (so Keeper supposes), swam away, hails from Iowa. Dogie, who was left shaken and stuttering after a tour of duty, but who can sing without a catch, accompanying himself on the ukelele, comes from New Jersey. And old, old Mr. Beauchamp comes from France. But together they and their animals (the dogs BD and Too, the seagull Captain, and the one-eyed cat Sinbad) make a family.
So, when Keeper causes a hullabaloo one day, and treasures are broken and hopes dashed, and she feels she had better slip away at night and row to the sandbar to see if she can find her mermaid mother and get some advice on how to fix things—when all that happens—there are a legion of loving people and creatures who want to see her safely home.
I won’t spoil what happens for you. Let the story unfold and see what you think.
I knew it was going to be a story with small events and quiet magic, but at first it looked as if maybe the magic was going to be that grown-up thing that I always hated as a kid: “Oh, the real magic is the beauty of ordinary life, my dear.” Grrr. Yes, okay, ordinary life has magic to it, but sometimes I want more magical magic. And I wanted it for this story, and I feared I wouldn’t get it.
Here’s the thing, though. First, as the author gradually worked in the stories of the people and animals surrounding Keeper (the ten-year-old protagonist), I found myself loving them so powerfully that I wasn’t even going to mind about the lack of magic.
And then, there was real magic, after all—magic, connected with love. Wonderful.
But back to those people and animals. What made me love this story with a powerful love was how it showed people and animals coming together to make a family. With the exception of Keeper, none of the people living on Oyster Ridge Road began there. Signe, who has been a mother to Keeper ever since Keeper’s own mother, a mermaid (so Keeper supposes), swam away, hails from Iowa. Dogie, who was left shaken and stuttering after a tour of duty, but who can sing without a catch, accompanying himself on the ukelele, comes from New Jersey. And old, old Mr. Beauchamp comes from France. But together they and their animals (the dogs BD and Too, the seagull Captain, and the one-eyed cat Sinbad) make a family.
So, when Keeper causes a hullabaloo one day, and treasures are broken and hopes dashed, and she feels she had better slip away at night and row to the sandbar to see if she can find her mermaid mother and get some advice on how to fix things—when all that happens—there are a legion of loving people and creatures who want to see her safely home.
I won’t spoil what happens for you. Let the story unfold and see what you think.
October 16, 2011
When I first started reading Keeper, I thought this was going to be a fantasy book. Hardcore fantasy with a whole world like Atlantis or something. But...it's honestly a story about a 10 year old girl, who believes her mother is a mermaid, and therefore, when the worst day of her young life happens...she goes to look at her. This will not have repercussions of course...she has the perfect plan! Which she memorizes to be sure nothing goes wrong. This includes--sneaking out into a row boat onto a sandbar where she will ask her mermaid mother what to do. She is doing this on the night of a full moon too! Where the tide is the highest and strongest! Nothing will go wrong!
I liked, the book. I did not love this book at all. Just liked it. I thought that it was interesting, but very confusing as well. I mean, where on Earth did Jack come from? I didn't understand the range of magic this book had? I would have preferred there to not be any magic rather than mermen and secret signals. It was all very confusing. It focused on many people's stories while never going in depth about them. Which was very annoying since when I read a story, I like details, I like a thorough explanation. What I felt like I got was fragments.
This was actually a long read for me, even though some pages would only have one line on it, it felt like forever. Things were just dragged out in my opinion.
Things I did like though...were the animals for one--they were given voices and based off animals in the author's life, which was very amusing to read. I did like Dogie and Singe too, along with Meggie Marie. I didn't like Keeper as much, but reading about the adults' past was fun, if only I could have read more about them.
I know it's like I'm ripping on the book, but I'm not. It was different from what I thought it would be, but it was innocent and sweet and I was happy when I finished.
I liked, the book. I did not love this book at all. Just liked it. I thought that it was interesting, but very confusing as well. I mean, where on Earth did Jack come from? I didn't understand the range of magic this book had? I would have preferred there to not be any magic rather than mermen and secret signals. It was all very confusing. It focused on many people's stories while never going in depth about them. Which was very annoying since when I read a story, I like details, I like a thorough explanation. What I felt like I got was fragments.
This was actually a long read for me, even though some pages would only have one line on it, it felt like forever. Things were just dragged out in my opinion.
Things I did like though...were the animals for one--they were given voices and based off animals in the author's life, which was very amusing to read. I did like Dogie and Singe too, along with Meggie Marie. I didn't like Keeper as much, but reading about the adults' past was fun, if only I could have read more about them.
I know it's like I'm ripping on the book, but I'm not. It was different from what I thought it would be, but it was innocent and sweet and I was happy when I finished.
February 26, 2019
28 April 2010 KEEPER by Kathi Appelt, Atheneum, May 2010, 416p., ISBN: 978-1-4169-5060-8
[If you are the woman (accompanied by the voraciously-reading daughter) with whom I conversed at the Books of Wonder event, please let me know you read this message so that I will stop worrying about somehow locating you in order to let you know that this is the book to get.]
"Do you believe in magic in a young girl's heart?"-- John Sebastian
"In that very moment Keeper became intensely aware of the crabs in the tub. She could hear their pinchers snapping in a nervous frenzy. But when she squatted down next to them, they stopped and became perfectly still. For the first time ever, she noticed the delicate markings on their shells, saw the perfect symmetry of their heart-shaped backs and the imperfect balance of their large and small claws. Suddenly, the crabs seemed beautiful to her, all of them facing her, looking up at her."Oh no! she thought. Signe was going to drop them into boiling water, drop them in alive. Their wonderful shells, blue and brown and white, would turn pink and then red in the hot liquid. Keeper's stomach did a flip. She couldn't look at them."She turned away from the tub and hurried to the bathroom, where she sat down hard on the edge of the bathtub. The porcelain finish felt ice cold through the seat of her pajamas. Her heart beat like mad against her chest. As mad as the crabs. She grabbed one of her great grandmother's white cotton towels and bit it."What to do?"
I've been enjoying telling friends about a recent adventure. Amidst my just-completed two months of living on the South Fork of Long Island (while engaged in a temporary training and supervisory gig for the Census Bureau), I took off one afternoon and drove to Northport. Once there, I spent hours walking the lanes that are nestled up alongside the edge of the Harbor; eventually weaving my way up into the neighborhood that overlooks the water; and then I hiked over to the public library where I was going to be conducting a workshop the following week.
The part I enjoy telling everyone about is how Northport is so special to me because I would often get dropped off there by myself as a child in the mid-Sixties. For seven dollars I could rent an old rowboat for the entire day. I'd row out through Northport Harbor past all of the moored ships and, then, into and around Northport Bay. There were a number of times, having rowed out to the far end of the Bay, when the swells would begin to rise and fall dramatically and the wind and tide would mightily conspire to thwart my return to the safety of the Harbor. Some of those episodes in the middle of the Bay were unquestionably amongst the scariest moments of my childhood. That I spent those hours muscling my way back safely made for adventures that forever transformed the shy, quiet, oldest child who I'd been. Those sojourns wrenched me out of my shell, gave me a real measure of confidence, (and led to reoccurring water dreams).
The part that I haven't been sharing with anyone is that on those days out rowing, I'd have a fishing rod with me and I'd always spend some time fishing. And I don't like thinking or talking about that part because then I have to think about how perfectly fine I felt at that point in my life, sawing the head off of a live, suffocating fish; slicing open its stomach cavity; and eviscerating it. It was squishy and gross but, in performing the operation as I'd been taught, I did it with no more thought than one would expend whilst unearthing a carrot, twisting off its top, and shredding it for a salad.
I feel revulsion for having grown up seemingly without any sensibility for what I was really doing, for having grown up presuming that being human made me unique and superior, gave me the right to take the lives of other creatures and to do so with nary a thought as to the gravity of what I was doing. It is an ugly little part of me that I do my best to keep well-hidden behind the decades that followed.
At college, I resided toward the Ag corner of campus. On a whim, I accepted an invitation to join some dorm mates one afternoon after classes (without a thought as to what would really be involved) in heading over to watch a half-dozen pigs get slaughtered.
Witnessing that process finally did it for me. My a-ha moment. I watched what they did to Wilbur and his siblings. I was a vegetarian soon thereafter. Still am.
When I think sad thoughts about all of the great, wild mammals that were relatively abundant during my childhood but have been steadily killed off and are all now on the brink of extinction, I think how I've long wished that I'd been born with some sort of sense that every living creature has a place, has significance, and should be respected.
Sometimes I wish so badly I could just have a do-over.
"Gumbo. Ukulele. Night-blooming cyrus.Stars in a line.All on a blue moon night."
And that has got to be what Keeper feels as she sits in a rowboat in the middle of the night -- a long-awaited blue moon summer night -- that follows the day when everything goes so wrong, beginning with her hearing the crabs speak to her, and her subsequently liberating them from their starring role in Signe's blue moon gumbo.
"And don't let love go by"--Joanne Rand, "Grant Me Eyes"
Keeper lives on Oyster Ridge Road, an isolated, oyster shell-paved Gulf-side road in the middle of a Texas state park. The residents of Oyster Ridge Road are the elderly Mr. Beauchamp with his one-eyed cat Sinbad; the stuttering Dogie, who runs Dogie's Beach Umbrella and Surfboard Shop out of what had once been the yellow school bus he'd arrived in from New Jersey; and Signe, the young, water-fearing Iowa native who has raised Keeper here since that day when Keeper turned three and her birth mother Meggie Marie swam away forever. (I absolutely love Captain, the watermelon-craving, scene-stealing seagull.)
"Stupid crabs."
It is on this magical night of the summer blue moon -- the night that follows a day during which Keeper succeeds in hurting the feelings of every one of the adults who care about her -- that she and her faithful dog BD sneak out after bedtime and steal Dogie's rowboat in order to head for the sandbar in hopes of seeking advice from her long-lost mermaid mother.
KEEPER is the story of this fateful night and the individual stories of the human and animal residents of Oyster Ridge Road, each of whom will play an essential role in this night.
KEEPER, by Newbery Honor author Kathi Appelt, is one of those couple of books in the category of If You Are Just Going to Read a Couple of Books This Year...
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
[If you are the woman (accompanied by the voraciously-reading daughter) with whom I conversed at the Books of Wonder event, please let me know you read this message so that I will stop worrying about somehow locating you in order to let you know that this is the book to get.]
"Do you believe in magic in a young girl's heart?"-- John Sebastian
"In that very moment Keeper became intensely aware of the crabs in the tub. She could hear their pinchers snapping in a nervous frenzy. But when she squatted down next to them, they stopped and became perfectly still. For the first time ever, she noticed the delicate markings on their shells, saw the perfect symmetry of their heart-shaped backs and the imperfect balance of their large and small claws. Suddenly, the crabs seemed beautiful to her, all of them facing her, looking up at her."Oh no! she thought. Signe was going to drop them into boiling water, drop them in alive. Their wonderful shells, blue and brown and white, would turn pink and then red in the hot liquid. Keeper's stomach did a flip. She couldn't look at them."She turned away from the tub and hurried to the bathroom, where she sat down hard on the edge of the bathtub. The porcelain finish felt ice cold through the seat of her pajamas. Her heart beat like mad against her chest. As mad as the crabs. She grabbed one of her great grandmother's white cotton towels and bit it."What to do?"
I've been enjoying telling friends about a recent adventure. Amidst my just-completed two months of living on the South Fork of Long Island (while engaged in a temporary training and supervisory gig for the Census Bureau), I took off one afternoon and drove to Northport. Once there, I spent hours walking the lanes that are nestled up alongside the edge of the Harbor; eventually weaving my way up into the neighborhood that overlooks the water; and then I hiked over to the public library where I was going to be conducting a workshop the following week.
The part I enjoy telling everyone about is how Northport is so special to me because I would often get dropped off there by myself as a child in the mid-Sixties. For seven dollars I could rent an old rowboat for the entire day. I'd row out through Northport Harbor past all of the moored ships and, then, into and around Northport Bay. There were a number of times, having rowed out to the far end of the Bay, when the swells would begin to rise and fall dramatically and the wind and tide would mightily conspire to thwart my return to the safety of the Harbor. Some of those episodes in the middle of the Bay were unquestionably amongst the scariest moments of my childhood. That I spent those hours muscling my way back safely made for adventures that forever transformed the shy, quiet, oldest child who I'd been. Those sojourns wrenched me out of my shell, gave me a real measure of confidence, (and led to reoccurring water dreams).
The part that I haven't been sharing with anyone is that on those days out rowing, I'd have a fishing rod with me and I'd always spend some time fishing. And I don't like thinking or talking about that part because then I have to think about how perfectly fine I felt at that point in my life, sawing the head off of a live, suffocating fish; slicing open its stomach cavity; and eviscerating it. It was squishy and gross but, in performing the operation as I'd been taught, I did it with no more thought than one would expend whilst unearthing a carrot, twisting off its top, and shredding it for a salad.
I feel revulsion for having grown up seemingly without any sensibility for what I was really doing, for having grown up presuming that being human made me unique and superior, gave me the right to take the lives of other creatures and to do so with nary a thought as to the gravity of what I was doing. It is an ugly little part of me that I do my best to keep well-hidden behind the decades that followed.
At college, I resided toward the Ag corner of campus. On a whim, I accepted an invitation to join some dorm mates one afternoon after classes (without a thought as to what would really be involved) in heading over to watch a half-dozen pigs get slaughtered.
Witnessing that process finally did it for me. My a-ha moment. I watched what they did to Wilbur and his siblings. I was a vegetarian soon thereafter. Still am.
When I think sad thoughts about all of the great, wild mammals that were relatively abundant during my childhood but have been steadily killed off and are all now on the brink of extinction, I think how I've long wished that I'd been born with some sort of sense that every living creature has a place, has significance, and should be respected.
Sometimes I wish so badly I could just have a do-over.
"Gumbo. Ukulele. Night-blooming cyrus.Stars in a line.All on a blue moon night."
And that has got to be what Keeper feels as she sits in a rowboat in the middle of the night -- a long-awaited blue moon summer night -- that follows the day when everything goes so wrong, beginning with her hearing the crabs speak to her, and her subsequently liberating them from their starring role in Signe's blue moon gumbo.
"And don't let love go by"--Joanne Rand, "Grant Me Eyes"
Keeper lives on Oyster Ridge Road, an isolated, oyster shell-paved Gulf-side road in the middle of a Texas state park. The residents of Oyster Ridge Road are the elderly Mr. Beauchamp with his one-eyed cat Sinbad; the stuttering Dogie, who runs Dogie's Beach Umbrella and Surfboard Shop out of what had once been the yellow school bus he'd arrived in from New Jersey; and Signe, the young, water-fearing Iowa native who has raised Keeper here since that day when Keeper turned three and her birth mother Meggie Marie swam away forever. (I absolutely love Captain, the watermelon-craving, scene-stealing seagull.)
"Stupid crabs."
It is on this magical night of the summer blue moon -- the night that follows a day during which Keeper succeeds in hurting the feelings of every one of the adults who care about her -- that she and her faithful dog BD sneak out after bedtime and steal Dogie's rowboat in order to head for the sandbar in hopes of seeking advice from her long-lost mermaid mother.
KEEPER is the story of this fateful night and the individual stories of the human and animal residents of Oyster Ridge Road, each of whom will play an essential role in this night.
KEEPER, by Newbery Honor author Kathi Appelt, is one of those couple of books in the category of If You Are Just Going to Read a Couple of Books This Year...
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
July 16, 2013
I have mixed feeling about this book.
Beautifully written with lyrical/poetic prose, this carefully crafted story offers lovely imagery, powerful language, and poignant themes.
HOWEVER...
The frequent POV changes and repeated shifts from past to present make it a challenging story some young listeners to follow, not to mention the subdued action and the repeating of elements from different POV (including animals)slow the book down considerably and offer additional points of confusion.
There is also a "gay" teen romance that is alluded to (and that ties in with the overall story) that probably goes over the heads of many kids but that some parents may find undesirable for their young reader, depending on their family's own personal attitudes and experiences.
Structurally and artistically, this book reminds me of a favorite by Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant. However, unlike Appelt, DiCamillo manages to weave the story and fates of several characters together without sacrificing forward momentum in the story and without the tiresome and confusing repetition from multiple POV that doesn't add significantly to our understanding of the characters or the story.
I'm not sure about recommending this. I think there are many young MG readers who would get bored reading this and perhaps not appreciate some of the artistic accomplishments. My 10 y.o (a voracious reader of new and old) gave it an unenthusiastic 3, while my 8 y.o. said it was "great". Of course he was the one who stopped me every other page to ask who was talking and whether this was taking place in the past or present. So, I guess, you'll just have to try this one for yourself.
Beautifully written with lyrical/poetic prose, this carefully crafted story offers lovely imagery, powerful language, and poignant themes.
HOWEVER...
The frequent POV changes and repeated shifts from past to present make it a challenging story some young listeners to follow, not to mention the subdued action and the repeating of elements from different POV (including animals)slow the book down considerably and offer additional points of confusion.
There is also a "gay" teen romance that is alluded to (and that ties in with the overall story) that probably goes over the heads of many kids but that some parents may find undesirable for their young reader, depending on their family's own personal attitudes and experiences.
Structurally and artistically, this book reminds me of a favorite by Kate DiCamillo, The Magician's Elephant. However, unlike Appelt, DiCamillo manages to weave the story and fates of several characters together without sacrificing forward momentum in the story and without the tiresome and confusing repetition from multiple POV that doesn't add significantly to our understanding of the characters or the story.
I'm not sure about recommending this. I think there are many young MG readers who would get bored reading this and perhaps not appreciate some of the artistic accomplishments. My 10 y.o (a voracious reader of new and old) gave it an unenthusiastic 3, while my 8 y.o. said it was "great". Of course he was the one who stopped me every other page to ask who was talking and whether this was taking place in the past or present. So, I guess, you'll just have to try this one for yourself.
April 27, 2010
A pot of crabs begin what is to be Keeper’s worst day ever. Everything she tries to do to make things right only make things worse. Keeper, a 10 year-old girl, feels she has ruined everything for everyone.
The story rocks back and forth between the present and the past and we slowly see the layers which brought us to this special ‘Blue Moon’ day. This day which was going to be special to everyone. But Keeper had ruined it. For everyone. How could she fix what she had done?
Maybe her real mother could help. Her real mother who, when Keeper was 3, had left her to return to the sea because she was a mermaid. Alone, drifting out to sea in a tiny boat, Keeper realized how foolish she had been. Her mom had not left her to go back to the sea. She had just left her. Left her with Signe. Who was asleep. While Keeper was adrift at sea.
The story is quite engaging. The sentence structure and even the structure of the chapters draw you into the story. The characters are all well developed, even the the characters of the two dogs and the seagull. My only hesitation in whole-heartily recommending this book is due to a display of romantic feelings and hand-holding between two 15 year old boys in two short scenes. Nothing explicit is described or even alluded to other than the hand holding. They could have just been written as friends but the story implies more. I would rather not have that discussion with a 3rd, 4th, or 5th grader, but maybe I am just naive since we home-schooled and did not have to deal with many subjects they would have in a public school situation.
Posted at Dogberry Pages
The story rocks back and forth between the present and the past and we slowly see the layers which brought us to this special ‘Blue Moon’ day. This day which was going to be special to everyone. But Keeper had ruined it. For everyone. How could she fix what she had done?
Maybe her real mother could help. Her real mother who, when Keeper was 3, had left her to return to the sea because she was a mermaid. Alone, drifting out to sea in a tiny boat, Keeper realized how foolish she had been. Her mom had not left her to go back to the sea. She had just left her. Left her with Signe. Who was asleep. While Keeper was adrift at sea.
The story is quite engaging. The sentence structure and even the structure of the chapters draw you into the story. The characters are all well developed, even the the characters of the two dogs and the seagull. My only hesitation in whole-heartily recommending this book is due to a display of romantic feelings and hand-holding between two 15 year old boys in two short scenes. Nothing explicit is described or even alluded to other than the hand holding. They could have just been written as friends but the story implies more. I would rather not have that discussion with a 3rd, 4th, or 5th grader, but maybe I am just naive since we home-schooled and did not have to deal with many subjects they would have in a public school situation.
Posted at Dogberry Pages
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