Monday, January 21, 2013

Book Review: The Great Unexcepted by Sharon Creech


By: Sharon Creech
Published by: Harper Collins Childrens
Released on: September 4th, 2012
Source: book from publisher to review
Ages: 10 & older
4 stars: I Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound


I had big thoughts to match the big wind. I wondered if we find the people we need when we need them. I wondered if we attract our future by some sort of invisible force, or if we are drawn to it by a similar force. I felt I was turning a corner and that change was afoot.

In the little town of Blackbird Tree live two orphan girls: one Naomi Deane, brimming with curiosity, and her best friend, Lizzie Scatterding, who could talk the ears off a cornfield. Naomi has a knack for being around when trouble happens. For she knows all the peculiar people in town--like Crazy Cora and Witch Wiggins and Mr. Farley. But then, one day, a boy drops out of a tree. The strangely charming Finn boy. Then the Dingle Dangle man appears, asking all kinds of questions. Curious surprises are revealed--three locked trunks, a pair of rooks, a crooked bridge, and that boy. Soon Naomi and Lizzie find themselves zooming toward a future neither could ever have imagined. Meanwhile, on a grand estate across the ocean, an old lady whose heart has been deceived concocts a plan. . . .
As two very different worlds are woven together, Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech celebrates the gossamer thread that connects us all, and the great and unexpected gifts of love, friendship, and forgiveness
.
-quoted from Goodreads

I LOVE this cover! It's enchanting and absolutely beautiful. It's one of those covers that draws you in, much like the story itself. I'm not the type of middle grade book reader who's fallen in love with many realistic contemporary stories, but Sharon Creech has written an truly remarkable story with The Great Unexpected. Once I started reading this book, there was no stopping until I was done. I loved it. It's book that has these fun, unique, extraordinarily unforgettable characters who take you along their adventures, mishaps, and journey into making amends, coping with heartbreak, and moving one. Above all this story is about friendship, love, and forgiveness. It's a story that encompasses realistic emotions that young readers can relate to and understand. Sharon's writing is beautiful, moving, and boy did she suck me right into this strangely, enticing story. I can see why Sharon's won a Newberry Medal before, and I'd be shocked if this, her newest release didn't win a medal this year.


I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~ Anna Quindlen

Good children's literature appeals not only to
the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.
~ Anonymous ~