Tiny Infinities [Hardcover]

When Alice's dad moves out, leaving her with her troubled mother, she does the only thing that feels right: she retreats to her family's old Renaissance tent in the backyard, determined to live there until her dad comes home. In an attempt to keep at least one part of her summer from changing, Alice focuses on her quest to swim freestyle fast enough to get on her swim team's record board. But summers contain multitudes, and soon Alice meets an odd new friend, Harriet, whose obsession with the school's science fair is equal only to her conviction that Alice's best stroke is backstroke, not freestyle. Most unexpected of all is an unusual babysitting charge, Piper, who is mute—until Alice hears her speak. A funny and honest middle-grade novel, this sharply observed depiction of family, friendship, and Alice's determination to prove herself—as a babysitter, as a friend, as a daughter, as a person—rings loud and true.J. H. Diehl has an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop; this is her first novel. She lives in Maryland. Lush, layered, and languidly paced . . . this is a keenly perceptive and nuanced story awaiting just the right reader. -Booklist Wrenching at times, comforting at others.Tiny Infinitiesis both a pleasure and worth every second spent with it in your hands. - John Feinstein,New York Timesbestseller and winner of the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult fiction Riveting and real, tender and thrilling. When I got to the end of this book I realized I was going to miss it like a friend. -Karen Romano Young, author ofHundred PercentandDoodlebug: A Novel in Doodles A coming of age story that explores family dynamics related to changing relationships, what it means to believe in yourself and your own strengths, and the role friends can play in helping you look at the world in a new way. --Mother-Daughter Book CLub Funny and devastatingly honest, this sharply observed depiction of family, frienló+