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Kimberley Griffiths Little is the author of THE HEALING SPELL and CIRCLE OF SECRETS, as well as dozens of short stories that have appeared in numerous publications, and the novels BREAKAWAY, ENCHANTED RUNNER, and THE LAST SNAKE RUNNER. She is the winner of the Southwest Book Award. Kimberley lives near the banks of the Rio Grande in New Mexico in a solar adobe house with her husband and their three sons.
The Healing Spell
eBook
$3.99
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ISBN-13:
9780545388412
- Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
- Publication date: 02/01/2012
- Sold by: Scholastic, Inc.
- Format: eBook
- Pages: 368
- File size: 2 MB
- Age Range: 8 - 12 Years
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Set in the lush bayou of Louisiana, critically acclaimed Kimberley Griffiths Little's lyrical and heartfelt story, THE HEALING SPELL, is now in paperback! Twelve-year-old Livie is living with a secret and it's crushing her. She knows she is responsible for her mother's coma, but she can't tell anyone. It's up to her to find a way to wake her mamma up. Stuck in the middle of three sisters, hiding a forbidden pet alligator, and afraid to disappoint her daddy, whom she loves more than anyone else, Livie struggles to find her place within her own family as she learns about the powers of faith and redemption. Livie's powerful, emotional, and sometimes humorous story will stay with readers long after the last line is read.
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From the Publisher
Eleven-year-old Livie is terrified when her father insists that they bring her comatose mother home from the hospital. How can she look at, much less touch and care for, Mamma when she alone knows that she caused her illness? As Mamma continues to languish in bed, Livie grows more and more estranged from her family, a chasm that begins to close only after she gathers her courage to visit the local traiteur, who gives her the formula for a healing spell. As Livie collects the spell's necessary ingredients, she begins to open up to the knowledge that she is loved and cherished by her family. Little explores the extremes of childhood guilt and its consequences in this harsh yet well-crafted story about fully drawn people. The bayou, with its rich culture, is an atmospheric character that overlays the story with mystery and dread. A special offering for readers seeking a challenge of the heart as well as the mind. Grades 5-8. --Frances Bradburn
Children's Literature - Janis Flint-Ferguson
The setting of this novel is a character unto itself. Readers are drawn into the bayou backwoods, where inhabitants rely on boats to travel even to the neighbor's house and where wild pets include alligators. Livie Mouton has always been her daddy's girl. She goes frog hunting with him in the early mornings and joins him on his fishing trips. But a horrible accident in her boat has left her mother comatose and Livie is sure that it is her fault. Her father brings her mother home to be cared for. Livie cannot help and she cannot explain why. She is uncomfortable around the silent figure of her mother and feels guilty for not loving her more. Her Aunt Colleen joins the family to help with the nursing duties, especially with older sister Faye's upcoming wedding. Now the house is really crowded, and Livie's secret weighs heavier, even affecting her relationship with her beloved father. In a moment of determination, Livie and her best friend Jeannie take a boat to the home of Miz Allemond, the traiteur, who is said to have healing powers. The spell she shares with Livie is one that helps her reassess her relationship with her mother, focusing on the love the two shared despite their differences. Middle school readers will find a realistic yet haunting quality to Livie's life in the bayou. While there is an exotic feel to the description of the lush green and the cool swirling water, Livie's experiences are the universal experiences of growing up to face who you are and where you fit in. Reviewer: Janis Flint-FergusonSchool Library Journal
Gr 5–8—Guilt-ridden because she believes she caused the accident that resulted in her mother being in a coma, 11-year-old Livie is terrified to tell anyone for fear they will hate her. She and her mother have never been close, but she adores her father and spends a lot of time with him in the Louisiana swamps where they live. Daddy chooses to care for Mamma at home, believing it will hasten her recovery, and Livie can't bear to touch her, which causes friction with her older sister and the aunt who's come to help out. Because she desperately wants her mother to be well, the girl visits a traiteur who lives deep in the bayou to obtain a healing spell guaranteed to work if Livie has faith. The setting is beautifully described and the protagonist is well-defined. However, the book is too long for the plot. Readers will figure out how the accident happened long before the characters do. The ending, with the mother waking from her weeks-long coma one night, talking to her drowsing husband, going to her art studio and finishing a painting, then returning to bed and to unconsciousness, is rather far-fetched. It isn't clear whether the author wanted the event to be mystical or miraculous, but it definitely isn't realistic.—Nancy P. Reeder, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, Columbia, SC