The Year of the Buttered Cat

Gr 5 Up–For 13-year-old Lexi, the daughter in the Haas mother/daughter writing duo, the “bad guys are the -ists—neurologists, internists, anesthesiologists...The ones with the pokers.” She’s about to undergo her second Deep Brain Stimulation surgery, convinced this time she’ll finally get her body—as long as she can find her “five gifts” in time, as prophesied by a stranger at a Shoney’s buffet. Untreated jaundice at birth caused kernicterus, manifesting in permanent neurological damage that left Lexi with virtually no physical or vocal control. Written from Lexi’s first-person perspective, the narrative moves between now-Lexi facing surgery and that pivotal year (13 months, actually) of the buttered cat when Lexi was mostly five. Ryan affectingly becomes Lexi—rich with insight, wisdom, snark, determination, wonder—reflecting a well-earned maturity beyond Lexi’s years.