Very readable book about a young boy who accidentally shoots his baby sister while playing with a loaded gun. The story has a potentially strong and intens...e plot but the beginning does not ring true to me....the parent's grief in the first few days after the shooting does not seem honest enough. To me, if I lost a 2 year old daughter to an accidental shooting, I would be inconsolable, out-of-my-mind with grief. I found the parents reaction too benign, not emotionally demonstrative or agonizing enough...therefore, I can't give this book a higher score. It did hold my interest, but just not "real" enough to make this a truly moving story. ( )

It has been a long time since I have read a novel of such power and depth, and about a topic that has so moved me: How does a blended family cope, when the 9-year old son accidentally shoots and kills his 2-year old sister? How does a mother forgive something like this? How does the stepfather ever look at the boy again without hatred in his heart? How does the family face their grief and do what must be done for the stricken boy? This is an honest, real and courageous novel, without pat answers, but in the end as redemptive as it is probably possible to be. This may have been the hardest book I have ever read; I have children close to the ages of Teddy and Trina, and it was as though I knew intimately the family as they struggled to repair the fault lines. Or as though the family was mine. I'm not sure I can ever read it again, but this book is a must read for any parent struggling to recognize what is important in life. ( )