Customer Reviews

Keeper

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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."

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.

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.

I'm not sure what I think about Keeper. The prose is incredibly lyrical, practically poetry. The short sentences made for a fast read. It would be wonderful read out loud. It is told from alternating perspectives of all the characters: Keeper, her aunt Signe, her neighbors Mr. Beauchamp and Dogie, two dogs (BD and Too), a cat (Sinbad), and a seagull (Captain). Appelt does a great job getting in the heads of each character. I particularly liked the animals, even though they felt a bit juvenile. While the reader could hear their thoughts, they still seemed like animals - their thoughts fit those of a dog, cat, or seagull (for the most part at least). We read about the adults' problems. Dogie is haunted by his time in the war (I'm not sure which one - Vietnam?). Signe is haunted by the burden of raising Keeper and the disappearance of Meggie Marie (Keeper's mother).

Keeper is convinced that her mother Meggie Marie is a mermaid. She's also convinced that crabs can talk. That's what sets off this whole bad day. Dogie brought in crabs for Signe to cook in her famous Blue Moon Gumbo. Keeper is convinced that the crabs called out to her for help, so she sets them free. The day just goes downhill from there - everyone suffers from Keeper's mistakes. Eventually, Keeper escapes in the middle of the night in Dogie's boat rowing over the dangerous waters to the sandbar where she believes her mother, the mermaid, will help her.

As a character, Keeper frustrates me. She is a sweet girl, obviously much loved by the adults around her. She works in Dogie's surf shop polishing to boards, so is at least somewhat responsible. Yet she is convinced that mermaids are real and that her mother is one - so much so that she risks her life to go find Meggie Marie. I just don't know it I believe that a 10 year old could be so immature. Maybe I just don't know kids well enough, but that fervent a belief seems more fitting with 6 or 7 year olds, if that.

This book will appeal to kids who like the fanciful writing style of fairy tales. I'm not sure that it actually is a fairy tale, but that's what the writing reminds me of. However, I think the complexity and tone of the story will turn a lot of readers off. Many of the issues in this book seem too mature for most younger readers (early-to-mid-elementary) to understand. And while they might like the rhythm of the story if read aloud to them, I don't know if the plot will hook them. Older readers (middle school/late elementary) will understand and be more interested in the adult plotlines, I think the childish tone of the prose might push them away.

The book has a few illustrations (by August Hall). These are gorgeous and really add to the book's character.

Overall, I feel this book is one that would appeal to the Newbery Committee and adults who enjoy children's novels, but maybe not to kids.

Rating: 3 / 5

Reason for Reading: Mermaids are another of my favourite mythological creatures to read about in novels. I actually had no idea the author was a newbery honor winner, although I have heard of her other book, I have not read it and didn't know who wrote it.

The book has a simple plot. Living on the Texan Coast in an isolated area close to a small town in three houses are Keeper and a young woman who is not her mother, an old man who has forgotten how old he is and a young man who runs a surfboard rental shop. These people are Keepers "family" and she loves them very much but one day Keeper has a bad day and everything she does goes wrong and she hurts each one of these people. Living a life filled with tales of the sea and a strong belief in mermaid lore, since she herself is half merfolk she sets off under the stealth of night, on the night of the blue moon, to make her way to a sandbar out in the ocean with her dog BD and a segull named Captain to call her mermaid mother back to ask her help on fixing everything that has gone wrong.

The book is well written and has a dreamy, calm atmosphere even when Keeper feels that everything has gone wrong. The pace is slow. The book starts with Keeper in the boat and then goes back to explain everything that happened that day to get her to this point. Along the way, we get the backstories of the people (and animals) inhabiting her world. This takes perhaps the first half of the book. Then the second half takes Keeper on her journey out to sea and reveals secrets of those back on shore culminating in the worst bad thing that has gone wrong all day. There are some magical elements to the story which are not explained in any sense as to whether they are real or dreamings. It is up to each reader to decide for themselves.

I'm having a hard time coming up with a rating for this book as I'm caught in the middle as to whether I really liked it. I certainly enjoyed the characters, they were all brought to life for me and I appreciated who they were and what they had experienced very much; I just wish something actually happened to them in this book. The plot is simple and dragged out but the book does leave one feeling tranquil most of the time. I think what I may be trying to say is that the writing is almost like poetry and that just may be my problem; I'm not big on poetical writing. I think this may be one of those books that you're either going to love or just could do without.

First I was not sure if my 6 grader daughter might be interested in this book as I found several mixed reviews but it turned out to be another favorite book for her. She says she likes a sense of beautifulness of the story. Asked about some of the themes that are a bit more mature, she says it is something like a spice that adds to the complexity of story otherwise it becomes flat.

"Take a deep, dark night.
Take a small, small boat.
Take a lucky-charm girl.
Take a bent-winged seagull.
Take a rushing tide.
Take a big blue moon.
Add it all up.
What do you get?"

Well, in addition to the answer provided in KEEPER ("One scared dog. That's what."), you also get a pretty amazing novel. Kathi Appelt's follow-up to her Newbery Honor Book, THE UNDERNEATH, is a thoughtful, lyrical, hopeful ode to love of all kinds: the loves we recognize but can't name, the loves we rely on but don't appreciate, the loves between lovers, between parents and children, between people and animals.

KEEPER is a sophisticated novel, focusing mainly on the events of a single transformative night in the lives of a little girl and her family, told primarily through flashbacks. It was supposed to be a perfect evening for 10-year-old Keeper, a blue moon (a second full moon in a single calendar month), an excuse for Keeper's stepmother Signe to make her blue moon gumbo, for Signe's shy friend Dogie to sing her his two-word song, "Marry me," for Keeper to see her two favorite adults in the world happy, in love and together. But when Keeper seems to get a mysterious message from the crabs that are on deck to be the key ingredient in Signe's gumbo, her rescue mission sets off a chain reaction of disaster that derails the perfect evening entirely and sends her off on a potentially disastrous journey.

When Keeper is sad and scared and disappointed in herself, she thinks of her mother, Meggie Maggie, who disappeared when the little girl was just three. Keeper is convinced her mom is a mermaid who lives on the sandbar near the shore of their tiny south Texas community. So, her pockets filled with the tiny mermaid charms carved for her by a kindly old friend, Keeper and her dog BD (Best Dog) set off in the rowboat, hoping that by locating Meggie Maggie, Keeper can find her inner mermaid, her mother, and the answers to all her problems.

Keeper might not be able to see the danger that lurks around the edges of her plan, but BD sure can, and the dog's love for the girl shines through the novel just as brightly as that big full moon in the sky. As Keeper, set adrift on the lonely sea, thinks about the disastrous day that has passed, readers will also come to see just how much unconditional love surrounds the girl.

Just as love infuses every lyrical page of KEEPER, so does magic. Even if the kind of magic Keeper discovers is not the sort she had imagined or anticipated, even if her definitions of mermaids and mothers need to change, magic ordinary and profound still surrounds her and keeps her safe. With its deliberate pacing, gentle rhythms and complex narrative structure, KEEPER is a challenging novel, but a rewarding one as well, a lovely read-aloud for parents and children to share on the blue moon or any time at all.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

I'm hoping this one makes the short list for the Newbery...This is one of the most beautifully written children's novels I've read in some time. Our heroine, called by everyone Keeper, is a 10-year old girl whose mother left her when she was 3 in the care of her roommate, Signe. Born literally in the sea, Keeper believes her mother is a mermaid, and that her mother literally swam away from her to join the other mermaids. Keeper has made a life for herself in a tiny community on the Texas coast with her dog, BD (best dog), and neighbors who comprise her untraditional family. But when Keeper frees some crabs that were caught for crab gumbo, she sets into play a sequence of events that make her believe that only her mother, the mermaid, can help her. In the middle of the night she sets out to sea in a small boat belonging to her neighbor with only her dog and a remarkably tame seagull to help her. When a riptide pulls the small boat deep into the ocean, will Keeper's mother rescue her, or will other forms of magic come to her aid?

Appelt writes with such an original, poetic style in this "keeper" of a book--the story is filled with heartbreak, abandonment, magic, and finally the realization of love, which doesn't need to come from traditional sources. The story is told in a non-linear style, with the author interspersing the narration of Keeper's story with that of the other characters that live in her tiny world--using flashbacks to fill in the stories of all her neighbors, all of whom are well-realized and lovingly drawn characters. Even the dog, the seagull, and the neighbor's one-eyed pirate cat, Sinbad, are wonderfully realized characters. The beautiful black and white illustrations by August Hall add an air of mystery to the story.

Highly recommended for children 8 and up and adults who love children's literature.

Okay, I am not a completely unbiased reader, since I teach with Kathi Appelt at Vermont College of Fine Arts, but I loved KEEPER and urge you to read it, hoping it will haunt you as it haunts me. Along the Gulf coast, on an out-of-the way road, characters come together in unusual ways on a day when everything goes wrong. A seagull whose best friend is BD, Best Dog. A cat who lives forever--or doesn't. A child who floated on the sea in a wooden bowl. An enchanted merman. A blue moon. A lonely old man. A girl who yearns for her mother, and a mother who yearns for her girl. KEEPER is infused with deep love, wonderfully imaginative writing, and the rhythms of the tides. It feels like a classic to me.

When I finished reading KEEPER by Kathy Appelt I was relieved. Sometimes 400 page books take me so long to read that I just want to be done already. Then I was confused about my feelings on the book. Did I like it? Did I not like it? So I reread the editorial reviews and some amazon reader reviews and saw I was not alone. While the critics love it other readers are like me. It is a wonderful poetic book with strong characters and a charming story. Mermaids, a loving (non-traditional) family, life by the sea, surfboards. However, it is not an easy book to read and many children will not stick with it long enough to really enjoy. However, strong readers who love mermaids and long stories will love it if they stick with it. Best for girls grades 4 and up who love reading and are strong readers.