Picking Up the Pieces

We enter Megan's life eight months after a motorcycle accident has left her paralyzed from the waist down. She and her family have had time to recover from the shock and grief--but now what? Adjusting to the physical limitations of a wheelchair is one thing, but Megan must now deal with adjusting her dreams of competing in the Olympics, going to college and having a ``normal'' family. While on summer vacation, the girl is surprised to find herself forming a friendship with someone who challenges her to open her heart to dreams of a different kind. Here is a rare find: a story that rings true from the outset and keeps sounding that same sweet note over and over. Calvert constructs Megan's journey back to independence as an organic, self-taught process that relies not at all on tempting deus ex machina. It is a painstaking and beautiful process of the gradual growth of acceptance and self-love from within. ``So what if once you flew along this trail like a woodland sprite? . . . now the sprite's got wheels . . . she told herself, as if she'd become her own counselor.'' Exceptionally powerful, endowed with the grace of the human spirit. Ages 12-up. (Apr.)