Surviving Meemaw
Roberta Brosius
language
(, Dec. 22, 2015)
High school senior Laney Odell thinks her life is messed up enough. She’s had to leave her boyfriend, her best friend, and Arkansas to move in with Meemaw, her Pennsylvania grandmother. Meemaw wears garishly colored clothing, drives like a maniac in her yellow PT Cruiser, and directs a team of puppeteers, making her a minor celebrity in town and a major embarrassment to Laney. To make matters worse, Meemaw enrolls Laney in tiny Millburgh Christian Academy and agrees to teach Puppetry in exchange for Laney’s tuition. Though uncomfortable with the strict, religious atmosphere, she’s excited by the attention cute, artistic, funny Calvin Berger gives her. Calvin is nothing like bland, boring, brotherly Joshua Gold, one of Meemaw’s puppeteers, who hangs out in Laney’s kitchen after puppet shows. Will Laney adapt to a new life with her quirky grandmother and finally process the tragic event that sent her there?