Two dissimilar girls forge a genuine friendship under strenuous circumstances in Pennypacker’s memorable, tense novel. The story unfolds in the fresh, credible voice of 11-year-old Stella, who’s been taken from her unstable single mother and sent to live with her great-aunt Louise, also caregiver to an orphaned foster child named Angel. The girls barely speak to each other until Louise unexpectedly dies and, fearing they’ll be placed in another foster home, they bury her body in the garden and try to hide that she has died. Throughout, Pennypacker (the Clementine series) skillfully meshes the poignant and the comedic. Identifying with Louise’s blueberry bushes (“I knew how it felt when the one person tending you disappeared”), Stella vows to save them from lethal gypsy moths. Simul-taneously becoming self-sufficient and dependent on one another, Stella and Angel bond as they take over Louise’s housecleaning job and try to stave off starvation. Beautifully evoked, the novel’s Cape Cod setting plays a focal role in this richly layered tale of loss, resiliency, and belonging. Ages 8–12. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (May)
★ “A suspenseful, surprising novel of friendship and family from the creator of the popular Clementine series.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
★ “Beautifully evoked, the novel’s Cape Cod setting plays a focal role in this richly layered tale of loss, resiliency, and belonging.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Pennypacker is a Beverly Cleary-caliber girl-whisperer; she can weave a yarn both funny and touching, with all the beloved, timeworn themes at the ready: friendship, family, loyalty, loss and independence.” — New York Times Book Review
“Pennypacker’s marvelously tactile writing animates Stella’s narration and brings both engaging, resilient, and resourceful characters to life.” — School Library Journal
“Sara Pennypacker, author of the beloved Clementine series for younger readers, tells the story of two opposites who must find a way to work together to survive. While the situation may be extreme, young readers will relate to the challenges of having to work with people completely different from you.” — Brightly
Praise for CLEMENTINE’S LETTER“This may be the best entry so far in the series, as Pennypacker develops her ingenious but impulsive character...And Frazee’s line drawings go a little further this time in showing Clementine’s highly charged emotions and her capacity for creating chaos in her surroundings
Desperate times call for desperate measures indeed when, one summer afternoon on Cape Cod, 11-year-old Stella finds her sole caretaker, her great-aunt Louise, dead in her chair. Stella, who's been abandoned by her mom, and Louise's 12-year-old foster child Angel know the second they call 911 they'll be hauled off by the authorities… and the thought of having to leave a good home for who knows where is too much to bear. So they bury Louise in the garden. The suspense escalates. How long will Stella and Angel be able to keep Louise's death a secret in a small community? Will dogs dig up the body? Will the girls be able to pull off the task of assuming Louise's duties as manager of the Linger Longer Cottage Colony? How long can they survive eating relish, stale croutons and "Froot Loop dust"? The unfolding story is both deliciously intense and entertaining. Stella, an order-seeking girl whose oracle is Heloise (of hint fame), not only knows how to keep a corpse from smelling (Febreze), she employs old pantyhose and Crisco to keep the gypsy moths off Louise's beloved blueberry bushes. Stella's poetic, philosophical observations of the world are often genuinely moving, and tough-on-the-outside Angel is her perfect foil. A suspenseful, surprising novel of friendship and family from the creator of the popular Clementine series. (Fiction. 9-12)
…Pennypacker is a Beverly Cleary-caliber girl-whisperer; she can weave a yarn both funny and touching, with all the beloved, timeworn themes at the ready: friendship, family, loyalty, loss and independence.
Sara Pennypacker, author of the beloved Clementine series for younger readers, tells the story of two opposites who must find a way to work together to survive. While the situation may be extreme, young readers will relate to the challenges of having to work with people completely different from you.
Pennypacker is a Beverly Cleary-caliber girl-whisperer; she can weave a yarn both funny and touching, with all the beloved, timeworn themes at the ready: friendship, family, loyalty, loss and independence.
New York Times Book Review
Sara Pennypacker, author of the beloved Clementine series for younger readers, tells the story of two opposites who must find a way to work together to survive. While the situation may be extreme, young readers will relate to the challenges of having to work with people completely different from you.
Jenna Lamia's performance radiates warmth and humor. Stella, age 11, has been on Cape Cod for a few months with her great-aunt Louise. Angel, a foster kid who hates everything, has just moved in. When Aunt Louise suddenly dies, Stella and Angel elect not tell anyone. Neither has had good experiences with the authorities in the past. Lamia voices Stella as innocent and heartbreakingly open. Angel's voice oscillates between bitter and bemused as the girls grow closer. The register of their voices is similar, but the diction, as well as the cadence Lamia uses for each, is as different as the girls themselves. It’s a good thing the girls are different. To survive the summer, they need each other's strengths. A.M.P. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
NOVEMBER 2013 - AudioFile
Jenna Lamia's performance radiates warmth and humor. Stella, age 11, has been on Cape Cod for a few months with her great-aunt Louise. Angel, a foster kid who hates everything, has just moved in. When Aunt Louise suddenly dies, Stella and Angel elect not tell anyone. Neither has had good experiences with the authorities in the past. Lamia voices Stella as innocent and heartbreakingly open. Angel's voice oscillates between bitter and bemused as the girls grow closer. The register of their voices is similar, but the diction, as well as the cadence Lamia uses for each, is as different as the girls themselves. It’s a good thing the girls are different. To survive the summer, they need each other's strengths. A.M.P. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
NOVEMBER 2013 - AudioFile
