Cousins

Award-winning author Hamilton weaves threads of love and tragedy into an elegant, stirring tapestry of family life. Young Cammy loves her old Gram Tut dearly--even though she's bedridden in a nursing home; she is ambivalent about her distant, very poor cousin Elodie; and she wishes that her cousin Patty Ann (who's too pretty, too smart and too perfect in every way), would just plain disappear. Cammy is a happy girl until tragedy strikes one summer day and she is plunged into grief. Only her family's love for one another and her grandmother's devotion can pull her out of the depths of dispair. Told from Cammy's point of view, this superlative novel features strong characterizations and incisive writing. Ages 10-14. (Sept.)