This lyrical middle-grade novel-in-verse celebrates the power of story
and of finding one's individual voice.
Keet knows the only good thing about moving away from her Alabama home
is that she'll live near her beloved grandfather. When Keet starts
school, it's even worse than she expected, as the kids tease her about
her southern accent. Now Keet, who can "talk the whiskers off a
catfish," doesn't want to open her mouth. While fishing with her
grandfather, she learns the art of listening and gradually, she makes
her first new friend. But just as she's beginning to settle in, her
grandfather has a stroke, and even though he's still nearby, he suddenly
feels ever-so-far-away. Keet is determined to reel him back to her by
telling him stories; in the process she finds her voice and her
grandfather again.