KEEPER by Kathi Appelt

A.R. Book Level: 5.0
A.R. Points: 8.0
Pages: 399


No one writes a pretty-sounding book quite like Kathi Appelt.  The words that she chooses and the way that she writes them make the story sound almost like a poem.  Keeper tells the tale of ten-year-old Keeper, who sets off in a little rowboat to find her mermaid mother in the Gulf of Mexico for some advice after she completely messes up the lives of everyone she loves.  However, when she gets out into the deep sea and the waters get rough, she starts to doubt her perfect plan to fix everything.  Appelt tells this tale from the perspective of several different characters, and I loved them all.  Just like in another book of hers, The Underneath, this author blends the realistic and the magical beautifully.