The best in children’s literature, selected by Jim Whiting.
Jessica Anderson
Jessica Lee Anderson lives near Austin, Texas, with her husband, Michael, and their two silly dogs. While her experiences have ranged from teaching to selling computers to coordinating a vision therapy clinic, her lifelong passion is writing literature for children.
Trudy would appeal to grandparents as it is a wholesome story that is about family and deals with aging.
By portraying Trudy’s relationship with her aging and ill father, author Jessica Lee Anderson offers a tender and interesting twist on the traditional awkward-middle-school experience, and introduces middle readers to the concepts of aging and mortality in a sensitive and thoughtful way. 2005, Milkweed Editions, ages 9 up.
TRUDY
Milkweed Editions 2005
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction
Ages 9 and up
Pages: 169
Hardcover: $16.95, Paperback: $6.95
Winner of the Milkweed Prize for Children’s Literature, this is the tale of a girl’s struggles with school and changing friendships, as well as her heartfelt emotions that arise from helping her mother make tough decisions after her father is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Review by Lauri Berkenkamp, Children’s Literature:
Trudy White’s middle school career is not going particularly well. Her best friend has dumped her, her math grades stink, and everyone at school, including her teacher, thinks her parents are her grandparents because they are so old. Trudy’s math teacher tells her that she is in danger of being put into a lower math class if she can’t pull her grades up.
