Review: Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles

Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles by Shari Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review by
Aunt Meanie


This book offers a peak inside a child’s mind. The questions a child must have about parents and a failing marriage. Still young enough to believe in magic and miracles, but too young to fully understand marriage, the reality of divorce, or the ailments of the human body.

A dream for better things and hope of understanding that “leaving” doesn’t mean someone doesn’t still love you.

I loved the cover art. I chose the book based solely on the title and cover art. I was surprised by the story when I started reading it. I was expecting summer fun, beaches, candy, and all things happy-happy. That’s not this book. It had everything except the happy-happy.

For any child reading the story, it is a way to gently explore some of the changes many children face today. I think the author did a great job with the story.

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Eleven-year-old Bailey believes in miracles. She has to; it will take a miracle to keep her warring parents together. This summer they are at a Marriage Counselling camp, leaving Bailey and her little brother Kevin with their estranged grandmother in the island town of Felicity Bay. There, an eccentric deposed minister makes a prophecy that a stranger from the sea will change everything. When Bailey discovers a mermaid-shaped piece of driftwood, she begins to believe that the mermaid is this stranger from the sea. Then, when a dolphin becomes stranded on the beach, Bailey forgets her own troubles and rouses the reluctant locals into action.

Written in light and lyrical free verse, Shari Green's warm and wistful novel brings Bailey face to face with both hard and beautiful truths about growing up and growing into her own ability to shape the world. (less)

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