The Battle at Otter Lake

At eleven, Paula is trying to deal with the fact that her father and mother are in the middle of a bitter divorce. Hate echoes from their voices when they talk about each other. As Paula spends her summer at a remote lake in upstate New York with her mother, her parents’ fighting angers her. She can’t understand how the two people who love her the most can’t agree on anything. Paula deals with her emotions by cutting messages into trees, carving sticks into spears, and terrorizing a neighbor boy, Daniel. After several mishaps, a friendship grows between Paula and Daniel. Just when life seems to be getting better for her, Paula gets into a serious, life-threatening accident. This tragic event cements a greater bond between the two and they learn that miracles occur one obstacle at a time.