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Heartbeat by Sharon Creech

Annie, 12, takes great pleasure in running, but has no interest in racing or becoming a member of a team. For her, the pure joy comes from feeling the earth beneath her bare feet and the wind in her face. The experience is totally different for her moody friend and running partner, Max. For him, running is a way to escape his personal problems. Annie's comfortable, tightly knit world begins to unravel when she learns that her mother is pregnant and she becomes increasingly aware that her beloved Grandpa, a former champion racer, is slipping into dementia. She is a resourceful, self-possessed kid who takes comfort in the familiar but is able to face change and take it in stride. She marvels at the new life taking shape in her midst (her father provides month-by-month summations of the baby's development) and mourns the loss of her grandfather's strong and nurturing wisdom. School, art class, and chores appear throughout the verses, creating an everyday rhythm that matches the footfalls of this engaging heroine who loves to move, but who is willing to stop and smell the roses.

At 12, Annie loves to draw, run barefoot, and spend time with her grandfather, who lives with her and is becoming more forgetful. She has a new love, for the baby growing inside her mother. As Annie draws 100 apples for art class, runs without joining track, spends more time with her grandfather, and goes to her mother's birthing classes, she grows with the rhythm of life, one heartbeat at a time.

tags (add tags): diary, family, kids, teens