Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles by Shari Green

Bailey is sent to live with a grandmother she hardly knows for the summer.  Her parents are going for counseling and deciding if they still can live together.  All Bailey can do is hope for miracles...

Pajama Press and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published October 12th so you can grab a copy then.

When she meets the local ice cream man, he used to be a preacher and he still quotes things only he can see.  He tells her that a stranger from the sea will fix everything.  When she finds a piece of driftwood on the beach, she thinks it looks like a mermaid and is her fixer.

This is tale of hope when it's hopeless.  It's the story of a young girl growing up, two adults settling an old hurt, her parent's separation and her new friend on the beach having a debilitating disease.  She asks for miracles and gets one in disguise but she might not be able to make her parents happy with each other again.  

She finds a beached dolphin and gets the community to help her return it to the sea.  She guilts her grandmother into returning the chalice she wanted to memorialize her dead husband.  And she goes home with hope for the future and a desire to visit the beach again.  It's a lot of trials for a young one but life isn't usually easy.  She handles her problems with imagination and persistence. There's a lesson here.  Just keep going, don't give up.