Shark Girl

A teenager struggles through physical loss to the start of acceptance in an absorbing, artful novel at once honest and insightful, wrenching and redemptive. On a sunny day in June, at the beach with her mom and brother, fifteen-year-old Jane Arrowood went for a swim. And then everything absolutely everything changed. Now she's counting down the days until she returns to school with her fake arm, where she knows kids will whisper, "That's her that's Shark Girl," as she passes. In the meantime there are only questions: Why did this happen? Why her? What about her art? What about her life? In this striking first novel, Kelly Bingham uses poems, letters, telephone conversations, and newspaper clippings to look unflinchingly at what it's like to lose part of yourself - and to summon the courage it takes to find yourself again.

Kelly Bingham was a story artist and director for Walt Disney Feature Animation before obtaining her MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College. This is her first novel. Kelly Bingham lives in Ellijay, Georgia.