Keeper

Keeper was born in the ocean, and she believes she is part mermaid. So as a ten-year-old she goes out looking for her mother--an unpredictable and uncommonly gorgeous woman who swam away when Keeper was three--and heads right for the ocean, right for the sandbar where mermaids are known to gather. But her boat is too small for the surf--and much too small for the storm that is brewing on the horizon.

Kathi Appelt follows her award-winning and New York Times bestselling novel The Underneath with this stunning, mysterious, and breathtaking tale of a girl who outgrows fairy tales just a little too late--and learns in the end that there is nothing more magical and mythical than love itself.

Keeper leaned over the edge of the boat. In the darkness of the night, she glared at the black surface of the water. "You stupid crabs!" She sputtered as she said it. Keeper knew that Signe would be mad if she heard her to use the word "stupid," but it was the only one that seemed to fit, so she said it again, this time with more force. "Stupid!" She hoped the not-allowed word would sink down to the bottom of the pond and etch its way into the crabs' hard shells. She couldn't see them, but she knew they were down there -- ten of them, scuttling along the bottom of the pond. In her entire ten years she had never heard crabs speak before. And then, that very morning, all ten of them had called out to her. Those ten crabs had turned this whole day into a disaster. Stupid, stupid, stupid crabs! Keeper checked the rope that held her boat to the pier. It was still too tight to untie. She needed the moon to rise, which would make the tide rise and then the boat rise, which would make the rope go slack, which would mean she could untie the knot, which would mean she could set her plan into action. Her perfect plan. "Come on, moon," she implored. Didn't it know she was in a hurry? As soon as she said the word "moon," she chewed on her bottom lip. So much had depended upon tonight's moon, a blue moon, second full moon of the month. Signe's gumbo. Dogie's two-word song. Mr. Beauchamp's night-blooming cyrus. All three of those things had depended upon the blue moon, and all of them -- every one -- had been ruined. Ruined by...CRABS! Keeper never wanted to see another crab in her entire life! Never, never, never! And now she needed the moon to turn the tide around and pull her out of the pond, through the channel, and into the breakers until she got to the sandbar. That was the plan...or at least the first part of the plan. (c) 2010 Kathi Appelt Excerpted from Keeper by Kathi Appelt All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.