Water Steps - Softcover

LaFaye, A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1571316868 ISBN 13: 9781571316868

Publisher: Milkweed Editions, 2009

Synopsis

Kyna likes her friends, her purple hair, and taking photographs. But there's something she definitely doesn't like: the water. Every time she comes near it, she feels the sinister pull of the depths trying to draw her down to a watery grave. Even the calm water in the bathtub reminds her of the torrential storm that took the lives of her sailing family when she was just a baby. But Kyna's adopted parents love nothing more than to swim and splash about in lakes and streams, or even the local pool. When they decide to spend the summer at a beach house on Lake Champlain, Kyna is convinced that they're trying to teach her something about water that she's not ready to learn. Little does she know that the water will reveal far more than she ever could have imagined. Inspired by Champ, the legendary monster living in Lake Champlain, Water Steps finds novelist A. LaFaye at her best, expertly interweaving themes of adolescent fears and fantasies, the frustrations and rewards of family, and a world of mystery and magic under the placid surface of nature.

About this title

About the Author:

Alexandria LaFaye is the author of several children's books, including The Strength of Saints, Stella Stands Alone, The Year of the Sawdust Man, and Worth, which won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. She teaches children's literature at the summer MFA program at Hollins University, and writing for children and young adults in the MFA program at Hamline University. She lives in Cabot, Arkansas.

From AudioFile:

Despite its short length, this is a wonderfully rich tale of a girl who learns to overcome both her deepest fear and her long unaddressed grief. As narrator, LaFaye seems to move effortlessly from character to character: the young, uncertain Kyna; the impulsive, riotous Tylo; and the lyrical-sounding adoptive grandparents, Mem and Pep. They must hide their own deepest secret when Tylo decides to investigate local rumors of a selkie, a creature that is half-seal, half-human. Though Kyna occasionally comes across as older than 11, her emotional journey is convincingly portrayed, and the entire tale is enhanced by snippets of Celtic folk music. J.M. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Milkweed Editions
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1571316868
• ISBN 13: 9781571316868
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208