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    Where the Watermelons Grow
    Where the Watermelons Grow
    Where the Watermelons Grow
    Audiobook5 hours

    Where the Watermelons Grow

    Written by Cindy Baldwin

    Narrated by Sisi Aisha Johnson

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Fans of The Thing About Jellyfish and A Snicker of Magic will be swept away by Cindy Baldwin's debut middle grade about a girl coming to terms with her mother's mental illness. 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 it's happening again-that 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 what's happening, it's up to Della to heal her mama for good. And she knows just how she'll do it: with a jar of the Bee Lady's 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 Mama's brain and more to do with healing her own heart, Della must learn that love means accepting her mama just as she is.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJul 27, 2018
    ISBN9781980017127
    Author

    Cindy Baldwin

    Cindy Baldwin is the award-winning author of Where the Watermelons Grow, Beginners Welcome, and The Stars of Whistling Ridge. She is a disabled activist, cofounder of Middle Grade at Heart, and We Need Diverse Books mentor. She lives just outside Portland, Oregon, with her husband and daughter. To learn more about Cindy, visit cindybaldwinbooks.com.

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    Reviews for Where the Watermelons Grow

    4/5

    32 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      More like 3.5 stars. While I enjoyed this book and appreciate what it was trying to do and the big topics it was trying to cover, it just fell a bit flat for me. I did not have any emotional reaction to the story or the characters and felt that there wasn’t enough development for that to happen. I will still check out other works by this author in the future though as I liked this enough to want to see what ever else she writes next.
    • 4/5
      This book is as Southern as sweet tea and that trademark honesty that I imagine all southerners have. I wish I had read a book like this as a kid. In the 70's and 80's all of tv and books contained "normal" families (except for After School Specials) and all kids can benefit from knowing that all families have challenges and that reaching out to friends and family will help.

      I think the more significant message is that sometimes changing your own heart is the only thing you can do when faced with a loved one with any sickness (mental or physical)

      I would hand this book off to any child ages 8 and up- and I would steer kids who have challenges at home to it.  I'm looking forward to future books written by Cindy Baldwin.

      Please note that I received a free copy of this book from Harper Collins without a review requirement or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that, I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.

    • 5/5
      I'm adding this to another one of my favourite reads. A touching story about how not a family but a whole community supports each other when one has schizophrenia.
    • 5/5
      12 year old Della Kelly feels responsible for the reoccurrence of her mother’s schizophrenia. Set in contemporary rural North Carolina, this is a well written, emotional and somewhat depressing read as Della learns, with the help of her community, to accept her mother as she is.