BEHIND THESE HANDS

When devastating news hits, a 14-year-old piano prodigy questions her place in her family and the world in this novel in verse.

Claire Fairchild was born to make music and has been preparing for an elite competition that could have a tremendous impact on her future. When both of her little brothers, Trent, 6, and Davy, 7, are diagnosed with Batten disease, a rare, incurable illness that leads to physical and mental deterioration and then death, Claire’s carefully outlined world collapses: “Batten has rearranged our family / like pieces of familiar furniture / placed awkwardly in a new setting.” Music is no longer important: “I don’t feel the music in me at all. / It feels dead.” She feels “dirty inside” for worrying about the impact this news has on her competition prep. How can she continue to make music when her brothers are dying? With the support of her friends, Juan and Mia, Claire finds hope—not that her brothers will live, but that she can use her music to celebrate their lives, no matter how brief. Free verse evokes the myriad emotions brought up by the story’s numerous well-balanced themes. The result is a richly woven, unforgettable symphony of feelings and words. Claire and her family are white, as is Mia; Juan is Cuban.

Brings awareness with sensitivity and grace to a rare, always fatal disease.