This image is the cover for the book Silhouetted by the Blue

Silhouetted by the Blue

After the death of her mother, seventh-grader Serena finds herself facing the day-to-day challenges of caring for herself and her younger brother, Henry, all while attempting to lead a normal pre-teen life.

Seventh-grader Serena Shaw is trying to keep up at school while rehearsing for the lead role in the spring musical and dealing with a father so "blue" he is nearly catatonic. With the aid of a not-so-secret admirer, as well as a growing sense of self-confidence, she faces the challenges of caring for herself and her ball-of-charm younger brother—all while attempting to lead the life of a normal pre-teen.

Readers will be drawn into this convincing portrait of a vivacious young person who is on a path to discovering that taking on responsibility sometimes means finding the best way to ask for help.

Traci L. Jones

TRACI L. JONES's first novel, Standing Against the Wind, was met with critical acclaim, won the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe New Talent Award, and was named to five state reading lists. Her subsequent novels include Finding My Place and Silhouetted by the Blue. Jones grew up in Denver, Colorado, in the very same house in which she now lives with her husband and four children.

Farrar Straus Giroux