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THESE UNLUCKY STARS by Gillian McDunn

THESE UNLUCKY STARS

by Gillian McDunn

Pub Date: March 2nd, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0538-5
Publisher: Bloomsbury

The summer after sixth grade changes Annie Logan’s ideas about luck and loss.

Annie’s mother instilled in her young daughter the idea that Annie was born unlucky and that life was simply not destined to go well for her, and Annie believes that she was the reason her mother left. She takes solace in her drawing and in the mountains she can just see from the roof outside her room. Her father runs their family hardware store in a small North Carolina town. Annie and her brother help out in the store and accompany their father to church on Sundays. When an intended prank brings her to Gloria Crumb’s door and results in the elderly woman’s fall, Annie is ashamed and hopes to put things right. Gloria’s former babysitting charge, Albert, and his partner, Paul, are new parents and unable to convince the independent and irascible Gloria to move out of the house she can no longer keep up. Annie spends much of the summer keeping Gloria—and Gloria’s odd-looking mutt, Otto—company. As the two forge a genuine friendship, Annie learns to navigate past her own doubts about her value. McDunn offers a warmhearted, nuanced look at a slightly lonely child. Annie’s voice is genuine and engaging. Main characters are White; names and other identifiers hint at some diversity.

Heartfelt and appealing.

(Fiction. 8-12)