The Lotus Cup

In East Liverpool, Ohio, Corry Tipson goes to the ceramics museum with her high school art class. Her standoffish new classmate, Tip, points out Corry's uncanny resemblance to a photo in one of the exhibits. Further digging brings out the fact that the woman is Corry's great-grandmother and that Tip is her cousin. Before she knows it, Corry has forged a link with her family's forgotten heritage, and has become enthralled in the making of pottery. With the help of an elderly neighbor, she rediscovers the long-lost formula for the Tipson family's precious Lotus ware. Along the way, Corry conquers her shyness and learns that people can't know what you're feeling unless you tell them. Curry has written an absorbing, refreshingly unsentimental tale of the simultaneous joys of artistic creativity and self-discovery. (12-upst)