GiGi Amateau

A Certain Strain of Peculiar

Thirteen year old Mary Harold Woods has had enough panic attacks, trying to stay invisible, and being called "the grossest girl" at school. If her mom won't move from Virginia back to their family home in Wren, Alabama, she'll just have to drive the 691 miles there by herself, to where the comfort of Grandma Ayma's arms, the steady routine of the farmhouse, and the cool shade of the Black Warrior Forest wait.

Days of hard work wrangling cattle under the summer sun and the tough yet tender advice of Ayma and her farm manager, Bud, guide Mary Harold in discovering the true strength of her own spirit. As she reaches out to befriend Bud's daughter, Dixie, a girl with a strain of peculiar all her own, Mary Harold overcomes her self-doubt, discovering just how powerful and surprising the bonds of friendship and family can be.

 

About the book

• by Gigi Amateau
• Candlewick Press, hardcover April 2009
• Middle-grade fiction
• Ages 12 and up
• Grade 7 and up
• ISBN: 978-0-7636-3009-6
• $16.99