Where the Watermelons Grow

Fans of The Thing About Jellyfish and A Snicker of Magic will be swept away by Cindy Baldwins debut middle grade about a girl coming to terms with her mothers mental illness. An Oregon Spirit Award Honor book. When twelve-year-old Della Kelly finds her mother furiously digging black seeds from a watermelon in the middle of the night and talking to people who aren't there, Della worries that its happening againthat the sickness that put her mama in the hospital four years ago is back. That her mama is going to be hospitalized for months like she was last time. With her daddy struggling to save the farm and her mama in denial about whats happening, its up to Della to heal her mama for good. And she knows just how shell do it: with a jar of the Bee Ladys magic honey, which has mended the wounds and woes of Maryville, North Carolina, for generations. But when the Bee Lady says that the solution might have less to do with fixing Mamas brain and more to do with healing her own heart, Della must learn that love means accepting her mama just as she is.