Maybe you wonÕt rock a cradle, Muriel.

Some women seem to prefer to rock the boat.

Eighteen-year-old Muriel Jorgensen lives on one side of Crabapple Creek. Her familyÕs closest friends, the Normans, live on the other. For as long as Muriel can remember, the familiesÕ lives have been intertwined, connected by the crossing stones that span the water. But now that Frank NormanÑwho Muriel is just beginning to think might be more than a friendÑhas enlisted to fight in World War I and her brother, Ollie, has lied about his age to join him, the future is uncertain. As Muriel tends to things at home with the help of FrankÕs sister, Emma, she becomes more and more fascinated by the womenÕs suffrage movement, but she is surrounded by people who advise her to keep her opinions to herself. How can she find a way to care for those she loves while still remaining true to who she is?

Written in beautifully structured verse, Crossing Stones captures nine months in the lives of two resilient families struggling to stay together and cross carefully, stone by stone, into a changing world.