Keeper

By Kathi Appelt
Rating: 4 1/2 stars

Ten year old Keeper is determined to make things right.  That's why she is out in a small boat with her dog B.D. at midnight on the saltwater pond, determined to make it through the Cut and into the ocean over to the sandbar where she can call her mermaid mother who SURELY will be able to solve Keeper's problems.  Once she shows up, that is.  Even though Keeper hasn't seen her mother since she was three years old.  But Keeper has messed everything up--things for Signe, who she lives with; for Dogie the surfboard shop owner, who she loves like a father; for Mr. Beauchamp and his night-blooming flowers.  It was supposed to be a perfect night, but now that it is ruined, Keeper has to do everything she can to fix it for these people she loves.  But does she have the luck to make it all happen?  This is a truly wonderful story about family and about loving people as they are and about mermaids and about adventure and about memories.  Readers will find it difficult to not be swept up in the tide just like Keeper, and will love the characters and separate stories that all come together by the end of the book.  A special tale with just a touch of magic.