Scholastic Book Guides: Cousins - Softcover

"'Gram?' Cammy leaned closer. Gram Tut's eyes were still closed. 'You're not dead yet, are you?' There was a long moment in which Cammy held her breath. But then, Tut gave a grin; said weakly, 'Fooled ya!' and shot her eyes wide open." Eleven-year-old Cammy and her Gram Tut have a special thing going. In fact, things are pretty good with her beautiful mother, Maylene, and her 16-year-old brother, Andrew, too. But dealing with her cousin Patty Ann is a whole different story. She is pretty--no, gorgeous--smart, spoiled, and she called Gram Tut "about dead." How could Cammy be expected to like her? She wishes Patty Ann would disappear off the face of the earth.

What if you wished something like that and it came true? It happens to Cammy, and it changes everything. As she speculates even before the tragedy, "...a day that was all blue sky could turn over dark and dangerous while she was playing a game with the other campers, or just sitting on a bench. It could happen that fast. Change." Fast-paced, immediate, and true, Cousins is a powerful, dramatic read. Winner of the Newbery Medal for M.C. Higgins, the Great, Virginia Hamilton masterfully brings the agonizing emotions of adolescence to life like few can. (Ages 9 to 12) --Karin Snelson

Virginia Hamilton (1936-2002) changed children's literature for generations of readers, winning every major award in her field across the globe. Her awards and honors include the Newbery Medal, the National Book Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, a MacArthur Fellowship, and four honorary doctorates. Virginia was married to Arnold Adoff, and they have two children and one grandchild.