Daily Pieces
Patricia Calvert Scribner's Sons 1993 166 pages
Characters
Megan is a smart, determined girl. Her mother is powerful, and fearless. Joey is an active, curious boy. Harris is a nerdy,smart geek. Megan is the main character. Joey is Megan's little brother, and Harris is a friend that Megan meets over the summer. Throughout the summer Mom , Joey ,and Harris help Megan have fun,and try not to let her think about how she is in a wheelchair.
Summery
Accepting a motorcycle ride led Megan to an accident, one that made her paralyzed from the waist down. Trying to gather herself, Megan and her family decide that they should go on vacation. They rented a cottage on an island that was special,because that's where the accident had occurred. Megan thinks it’s a good place to pick up the pieces. Once they made it there Megan met Harris, the boy next door who ends up falling in love with her. The two spent their whole summer together and towards the end of the summer Megan receives a surprising letter from the boy who caused the crash, Dex A. Cooper. Megan is stunned and writes a letter back to him. This is when she realized she wanted to start her life over.
Conflict
Megan has a spinal cord injury which has made her paralyzed. Since she is paralyzed from the waist down, she will never be able to walk again. She got the injury by accepting a motorcycle ride from Dex Cooper, who only suffered from a broken arm.
Title
The title "Picking up the Pieces" ties the whole book together, because Megan is trying to gather herself from the accident she was in. It relates because Megan's best friend told her not to accept the ride and keep walking, but Megan refused. That 'yes' wound her up in a hospital,then a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Her friend came one day to only say 'try to pick up the pieces' which left Megan with those words forever. Another good title for the book would be 'Trying to start over', because Megan kept trying but couldn't because of the thought of being in a wheelchair.
Reveiw
'Picking up the pieces' is possibly one of my favorite books. The way the Author explained things, and tied in her past was absolutely phenomenal. I love everything there is to this book and wouldn't change a thing about it.