Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

A Change in the Weather is this month’s prompt from Bruce Gargoyle in his Fiction in Fifty (Fi50) meme.  You can join in this fun communal story-telling any time you like, and post any time during the month. Bruce posts his today , and you can drop in and link to your own. A Change in the Weather We got along well for most of the voyage; it was a shame to ruin it. But 7 months of just us two and I had permanent tooth marks in my tongue. I could only offer a warning: “There’ll be a change in the weather before we make port, partner.” ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2017 As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated!

Title: Petey Author: Ben Mikaelsen Publisher: Disney-Hyperion, 1998. 280 pages Source: School district book giveaway. (Book was leftover and is en route to other young readers, lest anyone think I was snatching books meant for our children). Publisher's Summary: In 1922, at the age of two, Petey's distraught parents commit him to the state's insane asylum, unaware that their son is actually suffering from severe cerebral palsy. Bound by his wheelchair and struggling to communicate with the people around him, Petey finds a way to remain kind and generous despite the horrific conditions in his new "home." Through the decades, he befriends several caretakers but is heartbroken when each eventually leaves him. Determined not to be hurt again, he vows to no longer let hope of lifelong friends and family torment him. That changes after he is moved into a nursing home and meets a young teen named Trevor Ladd; he sees something in the boy and decides to risk fri...

  Title: The Thing About Jellyfish Author: Ali Benjamin Publisher: Little, Brown & Co., 2015. 343 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Summary: After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is convinced that the true cause of the tragedy must have been a rare jellyfish sting-things don't just happen for no reason. Retreating into a silent world of imagination, she crafts a plan to prove her theory--even if it means traveling the globe, alone. My Review: First, I want to add a couple of things to the summary: Suzy's grief is complicated by the fact that she and her friend hadn't just parted on bad terms; they had grown apart. And she is the kind of kid who knows lots and lots of little facts, and takes comfort in them. In fact, then, Suzy appears to be yet another middle-school-book character who is a bit on the Aspergers side of normal.* This does lend legitimacy to her difficulty relating to the other girls her age, including her (former) best friend ...