Book: Beginners Welcome by Cindy Baldwin
Genre: MG contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
This is the story of a mom and daughter trying to recover from the death of their husband/father. Our girl has not only lost her dad, but her friends have drawn away from her too. She's so sad. And her mom is really truly not functioning. In the midst of this, she escapes one day to the mall and befriends an old guy who is there playing the piano in the courtyard. She talks him into teaching her piano, and this happily brings back some good memories of her dad and makes her feel like life is good again.
Except the problem is, her mom would be SO MAD if she found out!
So it's all quite a problem. She wants to enter a contest at the end of the year, and she needs this guy's help to do it. But she also doesn't want to cause her mom more trouble.
Oh, and then there's the matter of her dad's ghost that just won't leave them alone!
It's all quite a sad story, but with a hopeful feeling. And how you can find friendship in the most unlikely of places. I quite enjoyed it!
I don't always love magical realism, but I liked the ghost dad element of this story. It makes perfect sense that his spirit would linger around his wife and daughter :)
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