Angel's Grace (Paula Wiseman Books)

By Tracey Baptiste

Book Overview

Grace has always had wild red hair like no one else in her family and a birthmark on her shoulder that her mother told her was the mark of an angel. When Grace is sent from New York to spend the summer with her grandmother in Trinidad, she looks through the family album and discovers a blurred photograph of a stranger with a birthmark -- her birthmark -- and Grace is full of questions. No one is able to identify the man in the photo, and Grace is left with no choice but to find out who he is and what he might mean to her. What Grace does not know is that her search will lead to a discovery about herself and her family that she never could have imagined.

Tracey Baptiste's first novel is a tender coming-of-age story set on the island of Trinidad. Angel's Grace explores the meaning of identity and truth, and the unbreakable ties of a family bound by love.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416995374
• ISBN13: 9781416995371
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 10 to 13 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 8

Customer Reviews

The Story Around Angel's Grace

I really enjoyed reading Angel's Grace. It is written in such a way that you can feel the characters pain and happiness. There is lots of little detail that describes the setting and people in the book, which adds to its overall quality. I don't usually like books written in first person. They spend too much time talking about the main character's thoughts and feelings and not enough time talking about the other people in the story. Angel's Grace wasn't like that. It talked about other people not just the main character. The end of this book is also very good. It doesn't leave you hanging. It leaves you feeling satisfied and happy. Angel's Grace is a very good and well written book.

Soothing and Wonderful

Grace is thirteen years old. She and her sister have been sent to Trinidad for their summer vacation. At first she is not enjoying being there and misses her friends in Brooklyn. Grace has always felt like an outsider. She feels that her sister Sally is her father's favorite. Also, she has the most unusual red hair that no one in the family seems to have. then one day her aunt showed her an album of pictures of her mother and father when they were younger. From those pictures she comes across a man with similar red hair and a birthmark (features of a small hand) and begins to question if the man she has been calling father is her real father. Excellent plot very believable and real. Great read

Great Book Overall

Angel Grace is a great book. When I read it I never wanted to take my eye off of it. The end of the book is kind of a surprise. I would recommend this book for anyone who loves to read Mystery. Angels Grace is about a girl named Grace who thinks she is a misfit, so she goes and finds out why all because of a picture. I thought it was the best book ever.

The compelling story of a 13-year-old's search for identity

Thirteen-year-old Grace and her sister Sally are spending eight very long weeks with Ma, their grandmother, in Trinidad. Grace misses her friends back in Brooklyn and wishes she could tell them about Raj, the neighbor boy who makes her uncomfortable in a strange new way. One bright spot is Grace's Aunty Jackie, who is full of fascinating family stories. One evening, Jackie shows Grace old family photos. Grace sees one that puzzles her: Next to Grace's young mother stands a man with a birthmark identical to Grace's own --- a small light hand above the heart. Grace can't tell from the photo, but she wonders if he might also have the thick red hair that only she has. When asked about the man, Jackie and Ma claim not to know who he is. Grace's mother has always explained her birthmark by saying an angel touched Grace there when she was a tiny baby. Grace remembers how angry her father got over the angel story. Suddenly she wonders: could the stranger in the picture somehow actually be her real father? It might explain why Grace has always felt so very apart from the rest of her family. But how could that be? She realizes that she must discover more about the stranger --- and possibly uncover the truth about herself. Grace confides her secret suspicions to Raj, who proves to be sympathetic and helpful. He suggests Grace and Sally invite their parents' old friends to the party they're planning when their parents come for them. Grace is struck by the brilliance of Raj's idea, which would give her an excuse to track down the people in the old photos, including the mysterious man with the angel tattoo. The search is on, but Grace can't help wondering why this man, if he is indeed her father, has never searched for her. Besides, surely if Grace's suspicions are true, her mother would have told her. And what about the man she knows as "Dad"? Wouldn't he be devastated to discover she's not his real daughter? Tracey Baptiste gives this compelling family mystery a warm and gently satisfying conclusion. Highly recommended! --- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (terryms2001@yahoo.com)

A wonderful book : Angel's Grace

There are many good books, but I think that Angel's Grace is one of the best. When I began to read this book, I thought that it was going to be boring, but I was really wrong. Angel's Grace is a wonderful book that continued to make me want to read it as it went on. I thought that this book was very good because it seems as if you were there and living the life of the family. In Angel's Grace, there are very good and interesting parts, but there are also sad parts. The section in the book that I thought was the best was when Grace and her mother sat down and took out the memory box of her father and discussed it. In this part they were able to talk about their feelings about the death of her father, Angel. However, the part that I thought was sad was when Grace assumed that a man named Mitch was her father and she found out that he wasn't. Another sad part in this book was when Grace finds out who her father actually was and that he had been killed in a car accident. Through this book, you can get to know the characters because they are vividly discribed and seem to come to life. I got to know the main character, Grace including her hopes, adventures, and disappointments. Another thing that is discribed well is the setting. It takes place on a large island called Trinidad which has bright blue skies, sandy beaches, and delicious exotic fruits. This lovely setting makes you want to be there and describes it as a tropical paradise.