Header image with four cats and the text: Pussreboots, a book review nearly every day. Online since 1997
Now 2024 Previous Articles Road Essays Road Reviews Author Black Authors Title Source Age Genre Series Format Inclusivity LGBTA+ Artwork WIP

Recent posts


Month in review

Reviews
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise by Gene Luen Yang
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
Chi's Sweet Home 02 by Kanata Konami
Dear Tabby by Carolyn Crimi
Doctor Who: The Forgotten by Tony Lee
Empire State: A Love Story (or Not) by Jason Shiga
The Eternal Hourglass by Erica Kirov
Gem by Holly Hobbie
The Honeybee Man by Lela Nargi
The Last Suppers (audio) by Diane Mott Davidson
The Locket by Stacey Jay
Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Keeper by Kathi Appelt
On a Windy Night by Nancy Raines Day
One Of Those Days by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Piece of Mind by Rob Reger
The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones
Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Red Cat, Blue Cat by Jenni Desmond
Ribbit Rabbit by Candace Ryan
Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus
The Shadows by Jacqueline West
Son of Slappy by R.L. Stine
Sophie and the Next-Door Monsters by Chris Case
Soulless by Gail Carriger
Stuck on Earth by David Klass
To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel
The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella
Wednesdays in the Tower by Jessica Day George
Who's There? by Carole Lexa Schaefer

Previous month


Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish

Reading Challenges

Canadian Book Challenge: 2024-2025

Beat the Backlist 2024

Ozathon: 12/2023-01/2025

Artwork
Chicken Prints
Paintings and Postcards


Privacy policy

This blog does not collect personal data. It doesn't set cookies. Email addresses are used to respond to comments or "contact us" messages and then deleted.



Keeper: 03/10/13

cover art

Keeper by Kathi Appelt is about a ten year old girl trying to fix a day's worth of bad events. It all began with crabs and her overactive imagination. She has a plan to make everything right.

Keeper has been raised to believe her mother is a mermaid. She's been in Signe's care since she was three, living on a tiny road tucked between the Gulf of Mexico and a nature preserve. There are three houses and an old bus that serves as a surf shop.

Keeper's story is intertwined with the stories of the other people living on that strip of beach — Signe, Dogie, and Mr. Beauchamp. Appelt spins her tale in a free verse way, using repetition, poetic allusions, alliteration and the occasional list to create a compelling and quick read.

To everyone I've recommended the book to, I've described Keeper as the inverse of The Mermaid's Mirror by L.K. Madigan. While Madigan's story is about a girl who is a mermaid but doesn't know it, Keeper is about a girl who believes she's a mermaid but probably isn't.

That isn't to say there aren't mermaids in Keeper. There are but how they play a part in the novel isn't what I expected. It was a delightful twist and one I'm not going to spoil here.

Five stars

Comments (0)


Name:
Email (won't be posted):
Blog URL:
Comment:




Twitter Tumblr Mastadon Flickr Facebook Facebook Contact me

1997-2024 Sarah Sammis