When Della wakes up to find her mother frantically picking black seeds from a watermelon while talking to some unseen person, Della knows her mother is slipping away again. Della also believes that this thing her mother has may have been caused because of her.
Della lives on a struggling farm with her mother, father, and little sister. Since her grandparents moved away, times have been tough. She helps as much as she can. She tends to the watermelons, picks produce for the roadside stand they share with neighbors, tries to keep the house clean enough to please her mother, and chases after Kylie. Della's goal is to make things as easy as possible for her mother. If her mother can just rest, maybe she won't get sick enough to have to return to the hospital.
Life is wonderful when Della's mother is feeling like herself. She tells stories and cooks and helps out around the farm. That's what life is like if her mother takes her medication, but things are scary when she doesn't.
When Della decides to ask the Bee Lady if she has some honey that will fix her mother, she doesn't get the answer she is expecting. The Bee Lady suggests that Della needs to change instead.
WHERE THE WATERMELONS GROW by Cindy Baldwin explores mental health and the toll it can take on families. Readers' hearts will go out to Della as she struggles to come to terms with what is normal for her mother and her family.
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