CALL ME GRACIE is a contemporary, partially epistolary, coming-of-age, middle grade novel.
Thirteen-year-old Hellie Mahoney is reeling. Her parents have died in a major earthquake in far-away Nepal, and she’s just discovered they’d kept a massive secret about her adoption – her birth mom wanted to keep her. She’d even given her a name: Gracie.
When her beloved grandfather/guardian, Pop, betrays her, she has no other choice but to act. She’s Gracie now, and she’s going to take control, find her birth mother, and fix everything.
But when one final, devastating lie is revealed, Gracie has nowhere else to run. Desperate and alone, she realizes the truth she’s been avoiding: our strength comes from facing our demons. And we can’t do that without the people we love.
As an adopted child who lost her mom at a young age, I struggled to find novels that spoke to my complicated experience. Even now, I still haven’t found a book that explores what it’s like to be adopted in a family facing instability, whether it’s a death, a divorce, or another challenge.
Kids in this situation face unique questions about their identity: if the story of the family they know has changed, and the story of their family of origin is a mystery, then who are they? Where do they truly belong?
My goal for Call Me Gracie is to fill this niche while also appealing to other children struggling to determine their identity in challenging circumstances.
KRISTA THREEFOOT 