A review by la_melisma
Keeper by Kathi Appelt

4.0

While Keeper had a bit of a slow start--the first half of the book, reliant on the sort of repetition geared at middle grade readers, feels as though it drags quite a bit--the second half was rich with emotion and excitement that made it difficult to put down. The characters that Kathi Appelt has created are engaging and dynamic, and she seamlessly mixes the sometimes-crushing sadness and beauty of reality with the possibility of the fantastic. This was achieved through prose that brilliantly rode the line between sparse and poetic. And while, at times, Keeper's voice--strong and authentic--causes the sort of frustration that any adult reader who recognizes the folly of her thought-process would experience, she's a truly endearing character with whom, at the end, I was happy to have spent some time.