Water Steps

Gr 4—7—Kyna, 11, has spent most of her life overwhelmed by a fear of water since her parents drowned in a boating accident. When her adoptive parents make arrangements to spend the summer at a lake house, she must deal with her feelings of anger, betrayal, and sheer panic. She pursues her photography, a hobby intended to keep her well away from the lake. Ultimately, it draws her to the water, and to a deeper understanding of her adoptive parents, a secret they harbor, and the sacrifices they've made for her. Alexandria LaFaye delivers an extraordinary reading of her novel (Milkweed, 2009). Her clear, crisp voice lifts her wonderful characters off the page and brings them to life. Middle school students will enjoy this spellbinding tale about breaking free of the things that hold us down. The rich vocabulary makes this an excellent choice to pair with the book for vocabulary enrichment.—Lisa Hubler, Memorial Junior High School, South Euclid, OH