The Berry Pickers

Author: Amanda Peters

Who Picked the Book: Stephanie

One-sentence summary: A 4-year old child is kidnapped from the fields where her family is picking berries and the story of her life and her family of origin's lives is told alternately until she discovers the truth.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7

Our favorite thing about it: We loved how the story was told from two perspectives.

Our least favorite thing about it: The subject matter was hard.

Main Topics of Discussion: Loss, Trauma, Coping Mechanisms, Secrecy, Fear, Belonging, Redemption

Our favorite quote: “I found it strange that no word exists for a parent who loses a child. If children lose their parents, they are orphans. If a husband loses his wife, he’s a widower. But there’s no word for a parent who loses a child. I’ve come to believe that the event is just too big, too monstrous, too overwhelming for words. No word could ever describe the feeling, so we leave it unsaid.”

Notes: We all really loved this story and how it was told. Alternating between the two perspectives was great - we loved that we got to follow both sides of the story. We also liked how the ramifications for each character was laid out and how they dealt with those ramifications. We thought it was absolutely nuts that the father and aunt/sister just decided to go along with the kidnapping. We also lamented how the indifference of the police made getting away with it possible. We discussed how trauma was inadvertently passed down to subsequent generations because it wasn't dealt with. We loved that the story had some redemption at the end and at least a partial reunion of the family. But what an interesting exploration of a tragic event and it's effects on two families. 

Memorable Meeting Moments: This was sort of a send-off meeting for Stephanie, although we'll see her some more pretty soon! We went out to eat at Mexican Sugar and then back to Rachel's house for discussion, lake house planning, and swimming (hot tub). 

What We Ate: Chips and Salsa, Queso, Cocktails, Enchiladas, Strip Steak, brownie sundaes.