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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An imaginative children's book with more mature themes., May 18, 2010
This review is from: Keeper (Hardcover)
Keeper is a ten-year old girl living on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. Keeper's mother, Meggie Marie, left her when she was a child so she lives with a young woman named Signe. Signe told Keeper that her mother was a mermaid and went back to the sea after Keeper was born. So Keeper grows up believing in mermaids and fairytales. She thinks she's a special girl with special mermaid abilities.
The book opens with Keeper being very excited for the coming evening. Everything is supposed to go perfectly that night, the night of a rare blue moon. Signe will make her blue moon gumbo; their neighbor Mr. Beauchamp will see his night flowers bloom and be done waiting for the boy he once loved to find him again; and Dogie from down the beech will sing his two-word song to Signe. But Keeper messes it all up. Wracked with guilt Keeper turns to the only person who can help her, her mother, Meggie Marie the mermaid. Desperate to find her mother so she can fix everything, Keeper embarks on an ocean-bound journey and gets swept away into danger and desperation.
Keeper reads as a children's book should read, simple language, pictures to enhance the imagination, a fun story with adventure and a little girl who doesn't know better. But underneath the fairytale of talking crabs and seagulls who eat watermelon are adult topics. Unwed mothers who abandon their children, a scary birth scene in the middle of the ocean, age and death, a veteran traumatized from his experience in the war, and love that doesn't necessarily meet everyone elses expectations. These are real-world scenarios placed in a children's book and I can't imagine an eight year old, no matter how mature, understanding some of the more difficult themes.
Another detail that makes Keeper more than a children's book is the narrative. The storytelling isn't linear; it doesn't follow a set arc. We are with Keeper on her journey, and then we flashback to what happened to Signe when she ran away from home, and where Mr. Beauchamp lived when he was younger, and what happened to Dogie to make him stutter the way he does. Beautiful literary themes all of them, but I do caution anyone who wants to get this book for their child that they should expect some question-and-answer sessions to follow.
I loved Keeper for containing the topics it did, for being mature and expecting more from a child reader. For containing hints of Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky (Oh frabjous day, calloo callay!). And like Lewis Carroll's works, I loved it for being a tad dark and ominous. It doesn't patronize to the younger audience, it exposes the fact that the world we live in is not a fairytale and that's okay. Through the childlike language is a story about a group of people who care for each other, individually unique humans, tragically brought together, but living happily in the "world unto itself."
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
askagaydad about Keeper, October 3, 2010
This review is from: Keeper (Hardcover)
Being a gay dad of 4 children, 5,6, 10 and 13, I can tell you that this a beautiful book, an engaging story and yes children will "get" the love between the boys. It will not frighten them as indeed love should not, they will not be confused by it or be unable to process it. Children will process it on the level at which they are at. My kids will recognize love. Other children may be blinded by their parents prejudice. However, while love is the central theme of this story, it's also a story about adoption, forgiveness, family, and about believing. I too cried when I read it. "Keep her", she whimpered, "I was suppose to keep her". Read on.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Multilayered story; too advanced for grades 4-7?; ideal for literature study, August 12, 2010
This review is from: Keeper (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
First, the multilayered aspect is quite gorgeous. There is a lot of deliberate repetition (e.g., the refrain of Stupid Crabs!) and the same events are often told from multiple points of view (including the animals' point of view). It is a book to be read more than once simply to appreciate the author's craft.
But who is the ideal reader? A child or an adult?
The book is recommended for grades 4-7. However, my nephew is a reluctant reader who is about to enter 6th grade, and I do not believe he would "get" this book anytime soon. Note that the Booklist review calls it "a literary exploration of the search for love and meaning that will absorb and reward patient, thoughtful readers." Whether or not they SHOULD be, are kids that age patient and thoughtful? Will they really be willing to invest in what boils down to a somewhat slow story? Or are they looking for an action-packed adventure like Nim's Island? If kids can't get hooked on a book, they aren't going to benefit from it, no matter how well written and lovely it may be.
Teachers should acquire a copy and decide for themselves. Keeper would certainly be a fantastic way to show how multiple genres can be combined into a complete piece of writing. For example, one chapter contains only a short poem. Later chapters, at the climax, simply contain the word Keeper (with the letters drawn out). Young writers will benefit from exposure to this sort of variety in a text.
At the same time, I'm not sure what to make of the love story between the two boys. It seems a bit forced: "let's add a little surprise and diversity and modern acceptance of all forms of love." I have gay friends, but I found this plot twist, which appears late in the story, distracting, even though I believe the intention was simply to expand the idea of love. I'm not sure what young readers will think of it: that the men are just friends? Maybe; in fact, all of the adult love in the book has a flat, platonic feel to it. It's hard to know what the author intended to achieve.
The bottom line: Parents and teachers may want to read Keeper before handing it to their kids, so they are prepared for any questions that arise. Because it is an interesting story that is extremely well crafted---particularly for adults who love good writing and can appreciate the multiple layers---I give it four stars.
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