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gmamartha's review against another edition
4.0
Trying to "fix" everything that has gone wrong in one day is too big to do by herself. The old fairy tales don't help - or do they?
christiana's review against another edition
2.0
I feel like Ramona Quimby because I can't believe I read the wholllllle thing.
jennymock's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this tale of a modern day child and mermaid lore. Appelt's style does take getting use to, but the book reads easily and quickly.
monalyisha's review against another edition
5.0
Read for my Young at Heart Book Club. It was my 2nd time reading, a decade later, and I loved it even more than I did the first time around (which was quite a lot to begin with!).
Gorgeous, tender writing; vivid small town/island setting; with found family, two lovable dogs, LGBTQ+ characters, & a dash of mer-mythology.
A perfect MG novel. Also great for gentle-hearted grown-ups who are doing their best, despite life’s hardships, to stay soft.
lizaroo71's review against another edition
4.0
young keeper is taken care of by signe, dogie and mr. beauchamp. this is the only family she has known on oyster ridge road where she has grown up on a coastal town in texas.
keeper's mother, meggie marie, is a mermaid (or so keeper believes). keeper also keeps company with her dog, BD; dogie's dog, Too; and a seagull, captain.
the story focuses on keeper's attempt to make contact with her mother by sailing out to the devaca sandbar 100 yards out from shore. keeper attempts this trip in the middle of the night without signe or dogie's help.
keeper's story and those of her family unfold as she is making her way out to the open ocean.
i love the role the animals play in the story. there are elements of magical realism here that are beautifully rendered.
another great book from appelt.
keeper's mother, meggie marie, is a mermaid (or so keeper believes). keeper also keeps company with her dog, BD; dogie's dog, Too; and a seagull, captain.
the story focuses on keeper's attempt to make contact with her mother by sailing out to the devaca sandbar 100 yards out from shore. keeper attempts this trip in the middle of the night without signe or dogie's help.
keeper's story and those of her family unfold as she is making her way out to the open ocean.
i love the role the animals play in the story. there are elements of magical realism here that are beautifully rendered.
another great book from appelt.
nssutton's review against another edition
At first, I fell for this book hook, line a sinker - Keeper's mysterious birth origins and the plight of ten crabs and GOOD LORD GUMBO IN THE FIRST CHAPTER. I am a city girl, who prefers to work with city kids, but have always been and will always be drawn to stories of the sea. I can't even recall how many times I re-read Jacob Have I Loved as a little girl, but I can recall the jolt I felt re-reading it as an adult. My memories of Sara Louise are stronger than those of my own life at that time.
But, as a rule of thumb, I thumb my nose at books with major animal characters. I skipped Appelt's other hot book, The Underneath, for that reason and she almost lost me with the over-empathic brigade of animals. And the more involved that the plot got, the more the animals played a part. And I started to look from my copy of Keeper to my recently purchased copy of The Knife of Never Letting Go and then back and forth again and suddenly realized that I had a Problem.
It's the mad dash to the Cybils finish line. If I'm having trouble focusing on a title 100% at this point and looking too far into my to-read queue, even if it's amazing and intriguing and I'm sure that by the end I'll like it, well, then I've got to put it aside and move on to the next thing.
I promise to come back to it, as I'm intrigued by the mermaid angle, but for now I've got some other library-procured Cybils short list candidates that need my immediate attention. After this last, long, sad look at that beautiful, thick, enticing copy of The Knife of Never Letting Go that is..
But, as a rule of thumb, I thumb my nose at books with major animal characters. I skipped Appelt's other hot book, The Underneath, for that reason and she almost lost me with the over-empathic brigade of animals. And the more involved that the plot got, the more the animals played a part. And I started to look from my copy of Keeper to my recently purchased copy of The Knife of Never Letting Go and then back and forth again and suddenly realized that I had a Problem.
It's the mad dash to the Cybils finish line. If I'm having trouble focusing on a title 100% at this point and looking too far into my to-read queue, even if it's amazing and intriguing and I'm sure that by the end I'll like it, well, then I've got to put it aside and move on to the next thing.
I promise to come back to it, as I'm intrigued by the mermaid angle, but for now I've got some other library-procured Cybils short list candidates that need my immediate attention. After this last, long, sad look at that beautiful, thick, enticing copy of The Knife of Never Letting Go that is..
jennutley's review against another edition
4.0
Another frontrunner for the Newbery Award in 2011.
This one grabs at you emotionally, adds a touch of magic-realism (or is it just the point of view of the ten-year-old heroine?), and stays true to how the characters would respond. It builds to a really nice climax and a beautiful realization by our heroine, Keeper, when she realizes how she got her name and how much she is loved.
This one fit squarely into a new genre I am introducing right now: a book that isn't really for children but wrapped in a children's book wrapper while written to appeal to adults so it has a shot at the Newbery. Now I need a name for this genre. Suggestions?
This one grabs at you emotionally, adds a touch of magic-realism (or is it just the point of view of the ten-year-old heroine?), and stays true to how the characters would respond. It builds to a really nice climax and a beautiful realization by our heroine, Keeper, when she realizes how she got her name and how much she is loved.
This one fit squarely into a new genre I am introducing right now: a book that isn't really for children but wrapped in a children's book wrapper while written to appeal to adults so it has a shot at the Newbery. Now I need a name for this genre. Suggestions?
librariandest's review against another edition
3.0
The story and the characters were great, but the pacing of this kept me from loving it. The writing was very repetitive (several entire chapters contained absolutely no new information) and I didn't see the point of it. Was it to make the reader feel the slow passage of time as Keeper sits out on a boat in the middle of the night? Maybe so. Either way, I think there will be other readers like me frustrated by how slowly the plot moved.
barbarajean's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5