Keeper

Keeper is a 2010 novel written by Kathi Appelt. This story is about a young girl who searches for her mermaid mother, Meggie Marie. Summary After unintentionally ruining a blue moon day by messing up her guardian's crab gumbo and breaking her favorite wooden bowl, causing a friend's ukulele to break, as well as wrecking the plants of her elderly neighbor, Keeper decides to make everything right. Taking with her seven wooden figurines of different mermaids, her dog BD, and a charm she had since she was a girl, Keeper sets out to find her mermaid mother, Meggie Marie, who has not been seen in seven years. Keeper finds out that her mother actually was not a mermaid but Keeper does get her share of magic after all. Characters Keeper: The protagonist of the story. Keeper's mother is Meggie Marie, a mermaid who swam away seven years ago. Since then, she has been living with Signe, her appointed guardian. She is an official "waxwing" for Dogie, has black hair, and is ten-years-old. Apparently, she was born in the water. Her nicknames are "Sweet Pea", "Good'un", and "Mergirl"; the latter was used by her mother. Signe: Keeper's guardian, who had raised a Keeper since her mother went missing. Signe is originally from Iowa, has white hair, and is twenty-five-years-old (she was fifteen when Keeper was born and eighteen when Meggie Marie left). She owned a wooden bowl that was broken by Keeper at the beginning of the book. The bowl was owned by Signe's mother, who died in a car accident along with Signe's father. Signe escaped from Iowa with the wooden bowl her only possession. Dogie: A friend and neighbor of Keeper's, who owns a surf shop called "The Bus", that is literally a bus. He has loved Signe for some time, and on the day of the blue moon, he was going to sing to her to marry him by playing his ukulele. He often stutters. His dog, Too, can predict storms and trouble. Too woke up Dogie at night when he found Keeper in the boat all alone. In the book's illustrations, Dogie is shown to be African American. He was from New Jersey and had joined the army. When Dogie came home from the army, he was shaking hard but a hug from a loved family member cured him; now only his voice stutters. When he sings while playing the ukulele, he does not stutter. He has two known relatives: his mother and an uncle named Sylvester. Mr. Henri Beauchamp: An elderly neighbor of Keeper's, who is an expert on mermaid stories. He is the owner of a one-eyed cat named Sinbad.