A Certain Strain of Peculiar
A Certain Strain of Peculiar
A Certain Strain of Peculiar
A teenager journeys from shame to strength when she moves to her grandmother’s farm in a story infused with southern spirit and heart.This is the last time Mary Harold will have a panic attack at school when kids call her "the grossest girl." If Mom won’t move back to Alabama, her thirteen-year-old daughter will just have to drive herself 691 miles to Grandma Ayma’s farmhouse — and a whole new life. With Ayma’s loving support, Mary Harold is soon strong enough to help Bud, the Cherokee farm manager, wrangle the cows, and confident enough to stand up for his daughter, Dixie, a girl with a strain of peculiar that makes her whinny and stamp like a horse to keep the world at bay. Mary Harold still misses her mom, but has started to have dreams of the Black Warrior Forest that are offering clues. As she listens to their message, and to her own heart, she discovers how powerful and surprising the bonds of family can be.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Fiction
  • Juvenile Fiction

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up
Profile Picture

Running away from her home in Virginia seemed like Mary Harolds only way of escaping the cruel people that surrounded her; so she did. The thirteen-year-old prone to panic attacks knows she belongs with her Grandma Ayma. She makes the 691 mile drive by borrowing her mothers old truck and driving it all the way to Wren, Alabama. The small town of Wren immediately welcomes her and she is put to work on her Grandmas farm. Bud, Aymas farm manager, teaches her all there is to know about running a farm.

To add your comments, login above or request a LitPick membership.