LLOYD MEEKER (Cont.)
SHELL AND STONE
BLURB EXCERPT
Eight-year-old Howie Evinger is convinced that his
dad would be happier if he found a new husband. Howie
would be happier, too. And somewhere out there in the
city of Vancouver, there‟s the right man for his dad to
love. But how to find him? That‟s a problem, especially if
you‟re just a kid and your dad says he doesn‟t want an-
other husband.
With the help of his quirky aunt, Shanna, who calls
herself a Buddhist Wiccan, Howie builds his very own
solstice altar with cool symbols to support his search. It
has a candle, a feather, and a twisty stick, plus an agate
for his dad, and a scallop shell for his new husband.
Share Howie‟s solstice adventure as he learns how real
magic requires courage and patience as well as symbols. Maybe the stone and the shell were too close to the
candle. Howie wasn‟t sure how this stuff worked. He
studied his Solstice altar, made out of a wooden TV tray
covered in a piece of dark green cloth. He felt nervous,
like sitting in a surprise math test he hadn‟t prepared for.
He had dreams like that sometimes. He hated math.
If he left his objects too close together, would his
wish cover enough territory? Vancouver was a big city. He
pushed his glasses back up his nose and frowned. Shanna,
who was really his aunt Shannon, even though she didn‟t
let him call her that, would know how it worked.
She‟d taught him about symbols last week, which was
a totally cool idea. Then she helped him build his Solstice
altar and told him to place his symbols wherever he felt
was right for them. The problem was he didn‟t know how
to place them so his wish, which sat like a giant lump in-
side him, would come true. It hadn‟t occurred to him to
ask her about placement rules for wishes.
***** Goodreads Review by Ulysses: “I‟ll confess,
I kept a tissue nearby as I read this story, because the
tears were brimming constantly. Howie is a perfect mix-
ture of childlike innocence and wisdom. He doesn‟t un-
derstand what happened to his father‟s first relationship,
but he recognizes his father‟s sadness and wants his fam-
ily to be whole and happy again.”
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