Mine for Keeps

by Jean Little

Book Overview

Winner of the Little, Brown Canadian Children's Book Award. A story of a child who overcomes a serious physical handicap.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316528005
• ISBN13: 9780316528009
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

This was always one of my favorite titles!

I started to read when I was 3 years old & have always been a voracious reader. If I remember right, I was around 5 or 6 the 1st time I read this & have reread it many many times since. (I'm 58 y/o now). Nowadays, I search my memory banks for my favorite titles for my great nieces. There's something special about passing on a little piece of your own reading history. Even if it isn't the same exact copy. But, I like to tell them a little about the story when we spend time together & show them my copy. Then when I give them their very own copy to keep, it becomes not just a book. It becomes a keepsake & (dare I say) even a bond between us that I hope they'll carry on when they reach my age & I'm long gone. I hope there will still be REAL books by then! Not just e-books. "Mine for Keeps" will help to bring up sensitive subjects that many kids wonder about, like what disabilities are & how to accept someone as a friend even though they may seem a little 'different' (is that the correct term?) It's very well written & the lessons learned will stay with your child for a lifetime. I just learned that the author, Jean Little, was also blind. But she didn't let blindness stop her from becoming a brilliant author! That's another lesson you can teach. Having a disability doesn't mean you can't do anything you want to do. I guarantee that your young reader will love & reread "Mine for Keeps" many times. Happy reading!

A Dream Come True

"Mine for Keeps", by Jean Little, is a great story about friendship you can't miss. It's a story about a girl, Sarah Copeland (Sal), who suffers of cerebral palsy (faulty development or damage to motor areas in the brain). She had always dreamed of going home with her family, but when her dream came true, she wished she had never wished for that. Sal has to overcome many obstacles: make new friends, adapt to her new home, and to not look bad in front of others. It is a story about friendship you can't miss, where a girl who use to be scared of everything-dogs, people, school, even dressing herself, finds friendship in a dog. It is a story with an ending that will leave you pleased.

The best Jean Little book that I've read

This book can really capture your heart. Sal has just come home to live with her family, after living in a special boarding school, for people with Cerebal Palsey. She gets enrolled in a public school, and makes two best friends, Libby and Elsjie. Elsjie has a brother named Piet, who is also crippled, like Sal. If you like reading Jean Little's books, I reccomend her biography, "Little by Little" This book is a must read!

A REAL TREASURE! I WISH I COULD RATE IT MORE STARS!

This is truly the best book featuring a character with cerebral palsy. Sarah (Sally) is the central character in this story. At 9, she has attended a school for children with physical challenges for the past five years. The Canadian province she lives in has no such school, so her parents arrange to have her admitted to the school in America.Finally, a rehab center opens in her town. Sally's parents move closer to the center so Sally can live at home. Her father flies her back and works like a soldier helping Sally to feel integrated into her rather large family.Sally has an older, bossy sister named Mindy, a brother close in age named Kent and a sister in kindergarten named Meg. She gets to know Meg because Meg was the sibling she spent the least amount of time with due to her years in America.Sally's father is truly a rare gem. He is clearly a very intelligent and articulate man and he provides intelligent explanations for things. For example, when Sally, understandably fearful of starting out in public school asks why she was sent out of the country in the first place, her mother flares up. That was needless. Sally needed sympathy and a good explanation, which her father provided. He told her that at Meg's age, Sally could neither speak clearly nor feed herself; she could not walk; she could not dress herself. He summed it up nicely by saying that he thought she would want to do these things for herself. He was truly a delightful character.Once enrolled in public school, Sally makes friends with classmates Jon and Elsje Jansen and another girl who immediately takes her under her wing. Sally learns that Elsje's brother Pieter had a heart condition that precluded him from attending school for a year. Nursed at home, Pieter nurses a grudge against his illness and insists on only speaking Dutch, thus further isolating himself. It is Sally, his sister and his friends who get Pieter to leave his self-imposed shell to help them with their dog training project. This is a wonderful book that I have loved since I was a little girl. I even have a well loved copy. It is a real treasure.

A childhood favorite

I just finished reading my childhood copy to my 6 1/2 year old daughter. We both loved it. The family portrayal was lovely as well as the inisght into Sal and her struggles with fears and cerebral palsy. I am dissapointed the book is out of print and I cannot give it to others.

Teaches kids about empathy and patience

It's a cute story about new friendships, dog training, and growing up...but what I like best about this book is how it teaches children about considering other points of view. Not since the companion volumes "The Bully of Barham Street/A Dog on Barkham Street" has any writer really made the concept of point-of-view so beautifully. Sara's enemies all become friends as she learns to understand them and their problems. And, naturally, helping them helps her to stop obsessing about her own troubles and makes her a stronger person.A joy to read, and good for you, too! ;o)