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Angel’s Grace
Tracey Baptiste
Simon & Schuster/A Paula Wiseman Book
Fiction
ISBN: 0689867735
176 pages
2005 New York
Public Library 100 Books for reading and sharing winner
Thirteen-year-old Grace and her sister Sally are
spending eight very long weeks with Ma, their grandmother, in Trinidad. Grace misses her friends back in Brooklyn and wishes she could tell them about Raj,
the neighbor boy who makes her uncomfortable in a strange new way.
One bright spot is Grace's Aunty Jackie, who is full of
fascinating family stories. One evening, Jackie shows Grace old family
photos. Grace sees one that puzzles her: Next to Grace's young mother
stands a man with a birthmark identical to Grace's own --- a small light
hand above the heart. Grace can't tell from the photo, but she wonders if
he might also have the thick red hair that only she has. When asked about
the man, Jackie and Ma claim not to know who he is.
Grace's mother has always explained her birthmark by
saying an angel touched Grace there when she was a tiny baby. Grace
remembers how angry her father got over the angel story. Suddenly she
wonders: could the stranger in the picture somehow actually be her real
father? It might explain why Grace has always felt so very apart from the
rest of her family. But how could that be? She realizes that she must
discover more about the stranger --- and possibly uncover the truth about
herself.
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