“Collage! Collage!”

Her mom was always bugging her. At that moment, Collage was peering into her microscope and painstakingly detailing what she saw on her paper-covered easel. A beetle was taking shape, oval and orange with black and white spots. Just then, she was adding hair thin lines for the legs.

“My name is Benjamin.” Now explain THAT, thought Collage as her mom called her again. Caramel colored and filthy, he had appeared at the library door where Collage worked looking too familiar. If he ever came back, she was going to have to be nice to him and find out more. Collage did not look forward to that particular mystery.

Who is my Dad anyway?, Collage thought with her Mom’s calls growing impatient. Never have known it and don’t want to know. But what about this Benjamin?

Collage is alone and prefers to stay that way. She has her painting, her books, her cooking and all of her favorite projects organized just like she likes them. Her clothing is devoted to one category of the food pyramid, fruit, and she loves them. One neighbor, Mrs. LeClair, is always up for a visit and that is enough for Collage.

Self-assured and precocious, this is the story of a little girl who enters into a growing community of characters and family, at first reluctantly but ultimately with joy.

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A first Middle Grade Fiction novel by Suzanne Ste. Therese, “Collage” represents the inspiration that came to her one bright day while eating an orange.