Family Drama

12-year-old Lise lives happily with her mother and younger brother (who does not talk, though he is very bright). But when her mother is suddenly seriously injured in a car accident, they go to a small beach town in Maine, where her mother grew up, for a summer of recovery. While a beach vacation might sound great to most people, it totally ruins everything about the summer that Lise was looking forward to. The "cottage" her mother has rented is basically a shack, and it's away from town a bit, so it's lonely.
Lise is suffering 12-year-old depression while her mother is healing. But with the help of Michael, her mother's old hometown boyfriend, Ben, an eccentric Native American who lives even further away from town than they do, and the sea itself, she finds her salvation. ( )

Sand Dollar Summer by Kimberly K. Jones
Story starts off with Lisa who's twelve and she watches her strong brave mother as her life crumbles with a car accident.
Everything goes downhill from there for Lise. Her mom moves them to Maine at a beach, where she learns so much more about her mother's past life growing up there.
She is terrified of the sea but gets help from her mother's male friend. He helps take care of her mother and figures out a way to make her legs work a bit better, in the ocean.
Loved hearing of the things she could be herself on the island and to be able to read as much as she wanted. Love the people she meets, the true islanders who become her friends.
Especially like Ben who lives in a shanty near the shore and he's very old and explains about ocean to her and other things dealing with the lcoale. Shark took necklace, sounds so cool...
The hurricane is due to hit them and some take care to board up their places against the fierce wind and rains. We had just gone through three here in RI in the past 3 weeks time and have endured the 36 hours of salty rain and winds and no electric.
Have gone through so many more here in my life so I can imagine how she really feels. She is caught off guard and tries to outrun the storm as you watch her struggle in the waves, at the rock shore.
Love watching her mom get strong again and how she is able to find things along the beach, using her walker. Peaceful ending for some on the island and it makes you stronger.
Enjoyed this read and it was scary at times. Love legend of sand dollar, very delicate.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device). ( )

00011581

Lise is a middle schooler who has struggled to fit in due to her mom’s frequent job changes and subsequent moves. Just as she feels like she is beginning to fit it, her life changes unexpectedly when her single mother is severely injured in a car accident. To recuperate after the accident, Lise’s mother moves the family back to her hometown on the Maine coast. This move is complicated by Lise feelings of anger toward her mother for suddenly becoming less self sufficient, confusion over her father’s absence, Lise’s brother’s unwillingness to speak, and Lise’s coming to terms with her own feelings. Her journey is both buoyed and complicated by the influence of two local residents. ( )