THE CURSE OF ADDY McMAHON

Addy believes her Grandmother when she claims the “family curse” has been lurking for several generations. How else can she explain losing her father to cancer, having to get along with her mom’s new “houseguest,” Jonathan, losing her best friend to an e-mail mistake and being singled out as the most hated girl in the sixth grade? Addy wants to be a published writer and is already on her way with the school’s monthly newspaper. Davis melds typical tween social dilemmas with the consequences of terminal illness and a child’s privately painful grief. Disturbed by her mother’s impending second marriage, Addy reflects on life through her graphic “autobiogra-strip” that is woven through the novel, telling her story in a sardonic and somewhat fatalistic voice. Yet she remains determined to mend a broken friendship and learns to accept life’s challenges for what they are—not curses, but realities she can work through on her way to new successes. A well-crafted view of a child’s inner struggles and emotional growth. (Fiction. 10-12)