This book launches Harper's new Bowen Press, so you know it was chosen very carefully. I think it's a worthy launch title - it has a lovely feel to it. Sort of a Penderwicks feel, although not quite so lighthearted; maybe a little timeless, like Elizabeth Enright, but with a dash of the seriousness Sharon Creech often weaves into her narratives. Might be a contender for an Honor book.
11 year old Eleanor "Groovy" Robinson is obsessed with food and cooking and plans to go to culinary school as soon as she's old enough. Her fairly ordered world is turned upside down when her father is taken off to jail and her mother wants to tell her story after story instead of explaining what has happened to their family.
Meanwhile, her best friend Frankie's mother, who went on a fishing trip and never came back, has suddenly reappeared in his life. A former adversary of Groovy's becomes a friend. A financial revelation rocks Groovy's vision for her future. And while all this is going on, the swallows that make their annual migration to Groovy's hometown of San Juan Capistrano are arriving early and no one can explain why. No one, in fact, can explain anything that Groovy doesn't understand.
Groovy's life is suddenly topsy-turvy and she must learn to rise and fall with it. How she does so is a story that I believe many will relate to and, in the end, love.
The mood in this book is exceptional; the characterization and voice true and original. Highly, highly recommended.
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: February 3, 2009
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