Otherwise Known as Possum

Gr 4–6—Eleven-year-old LizBetty Porter, better known as Possum, loses her mother and newborn baby brother. Like most tweens, Possum thinks she has all the answers. In her worldview, if she remains at home, her life will be the same as it was before her mother died. She will not attend school, because she already knows everything. Instead, she will be a companion to her distraught father. Even when neighbors try to help by bringing food or providing company, Possum does her best to discourage them. But change comes. Possum is forced to go to school and must share a desk with a stuck-up girl named Mary Grace. Quickly, Possum becomes aware that her pretty teacher is interested in her father. As the tale unfolds in vignettes and episodes, some of her beliefs and attitudes undergo dramatic reversals. This coming-of-age novel takes place in 1932, in Depression-era Appalachia. Folksy wisdom shared by various secondary characters and the natural beauty and simplicity of the environment help Possum overcome her grief. But more life-affirming than scenery is the support of caring friends and neighbors who Possum finally allows into her painful world and who permit her broken heart to start to mend.