The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, (Paperback)

from fig2

Along the lines of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden has a smart, resourceful 10-year-old protagonist. Pia Kolvenbach is wise beyond her years, and brave and thoughtful besides. Pia's cross to bear is the unceasing teasing she receives since her grandmother...

from sshartelg

This mystery by English author Helen Grant is definitely a page-turner. The year is 1999 and the book's protagonist, 10-year-old Pia, has recently been ostracized by most of her friends and classmates b/c of her grandmother's strange and dramatic Christmas-time death. So when little girls start v...

from heidilach

I am so glad I snagged a copy of this book. It was exactly what I needed in my life - a little bit of mystery and a little bit of fairy tale in one quick and easy read. I was hooked from the first line: "My life might have been so different, had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother expl...

from noranydrop2read

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is part fairy-tale, part coming-of-age story, part mystery, and each component is captivating. I kicked the habit of biting my nails decades ago, but I found myself nibbling ever so slightly as the events unfolded to their conclusion. Though the story takes place...

from jmyers24

While Pia Kolvenbach did not wake up on December 20, 1998 as a giant cockroach, she begins her tale of social metamorphosis with the lament, "My life might have been so different, had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded." With her Oma Kristel's fiery exit at the family Christm...