Grounded

General Middle School Fiction G/A. Klise, Kate. Grounded. Feiwel and Friends, 2010. ISBN: 9780312570392. 196p. 16.99 Daralynn Oakland is the kind of girl who likes to escape her mother’s watchful eye. This trait saves her life the summer before sixth grade, when she is grounded for going fishing without permission. Because of this, she escapes the plane crash that kills her father and two siblings. Instead of drawing closer together in their grief, Daralynn and her mother, Hattie, cope separately. Daralynn sorts out her thoughts by imagining what she would tell her father in a letter, while Hattie becomes angry and determines to keep Daralynn closer to home. But Hattie can’t keep them isolated from their Ozark community forever. Daralynn’s energy and sensibility make this a warm story of community and how they all recover from tragedy. Anjelique Granados, CoLAPL-Angelo M. Iacoboni