Chasing Sharon Creech into Walking Two Moons to our Class Because We Love That Woman!
I discovered Sharon Creech a few years ago. The bright yellow cover of Love That Dog caught my eye at the revolving paperback rack section at our public library. (Never underestimate the power of a good cover!) But Hate That Cat was actually the first book of hers that I read and it was love at first sight. Swoony tweeny love.
I just started my blog and was finding my way around Twitter when Sharon tweeted me back that she Liked My Post. That singular tweet made my day, my week, my year.
My oldest, Grasshopper and Sensei, used to bring home books for me to blog on and Ruby Holler was one of them.
“I really like this book Mom. You should blog on it.”
(My kids were much more supportive of my blog when they were younger. Now they think I am on the computer All The Time.)
Grasshopper and Sensei loved her books so much that she tried to read all of Sharon Creech’s books as part of her class-wide 5th Grade Sharon Creech Author Study. These books were her favorites:
Ruby Holler
Chasing Redbird
Walk Two Moons (also a book club book for her)
The Unfinished Angel
PickyKidPix had to be coerced into reading Ruby Holler. By chapter three, she was hooked and sped through the book. She became smitten with Sharon Creech love too.
PickyKidPix posts on her favorite books each year. In 4th grade, she included Ruby Holler and Sharon Creech noticed her little blog and left a comment:
It made her day, her week, her year. Her entire young life.
Now, I’d love to bring her into my school via Skype for an author visit to cap off their 5th Grade Sharon Creech study. It would make my day, my week, my year. But for the kids in that grade, it might change someone’s life. That’s what author visits can do!
p.s. Her latest book does not disappoint!
The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech
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 of 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.
This book is probably Sharon Creech’s finest to date with a tightly constructed interwoven plot that is From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (the outside narrator that the plot turns on) meets Irish faerie magical realism. While the cast of characters is large, each person plays a role in this story that spans generations of sorrow yet wraps up in a denouement that is both inspiring and satisfying. The Newbery award seems to favor a windy plot set in small-town America. I put my money on this book for the top Newbery award!
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Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Massachusetts Book Award Long List
- Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Starred review from School Library Journal
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award Long List
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
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Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me
I read the first paragraph and was immediately hooked. All that wondering sets the reader up. You will just have to go on to find the answers!
Hi Barbara,
Yes, her book is mesmerizing from the start. I am also amazed that it didn’t win more awards. I wonder if the bar is set higher if you are already lauded … like judges expect even more! She’s such a nice person too!
It might be easier (and less expensive) to get her in person now that she’s living in Maine (vs. somewhere in the midwest, I think).
She’s also a keynote speaker at this year’s New England SCBWI Conference which is in May.
I hope you get her to come in for an author visit – via Skype or in person! That is so cool that she found both your blog post and your daughter’s blog post!
Hi Maryanne,
If you tweet directly to her @ciaobellacreech she actually takes the time to read the tweet and post despite being crazy-busy! I love that about her!!! She is the nicest person! I hope we get her too! PickyKidPix is dying to meet her!
I was just searching the web for something good to read. I got curious about these books and their author. And you are right, the covers are attractive. They are actually the ones that caught my eye first. Is there an e-book version of her books so I no longer have to buy the actual book? I want to start reading right away. I hate waiting for shipping that usually takes too long.
Hi Maria,
Yes, most of her books are available as Kindle books:
Walk Two Moons (won Newbery): href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MYJ3I8/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001MYJ3I8&linkCode=as2&tag=pragmom-20
The Great Unexpected (her latest):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007HB8CYQ/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007HB8CYQ&linkCode=as2&tag=pragmom-20
Ruby Holler (we LOVE this book):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FC13KE/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000FC13KE&linkCode=as2&tag=pragmom-20
I just started reading The Great Unexpected! Thanks for sharing your passion for this author with The Children’s Bookshelf.
Hi Mom and Kiddo,
YAY! I hope you love it too! Do tell me what you think when you are done. I personally think she was robbed of a Newbery Honor. Definitely a great book that got overlooked by most of the children’s book awards probably because she’s so famous already.
These sound great especially interested in The Great Unexpected! These are our rock stars!
Hi Ann,
Sounds like you are a Sharon Creech fan too!
Walk Two Moons might be my favorite book ever … though I fell in love with her works with Love That Dog back when my oldest was in elementary school. I read that book to his class and it was a huge hit.
Hi Twisterfish,
I think I followed the same path of Sharon Creech love as you except my first Sharon Creech book was Hate That Cat followed by Walk Two Moons. I did eventually read Love That Dog too and it was really the first time I connected with poetry.
The Great Unexpected sounded really interesting, so it hooked me and I bought it – and yes the writing was actually very refreshing. So, thanks for sharing!
Hi Nicole,
I’m so glad you liked it too! I was surprised it didn’t win a Newbery. It’s such an excellent book. I guess the bar is higher for previous winners!
You got me interested in the Great Unexpected, I grabbed it, and I’m hooked. Thanks for introducing me to this book.
Hi Rosie,
I’m so glad. We LOVE Sharon Creech and her latest, The Great Unexpected (though a new book is coming out soon), is her best work to date I thought! I was surprised that she didn’t win a Newbery honor for it! I love it when the stories tie up and every character is somehow related. The time travel magical realism was also fun. I loved that!
Hi Mia,
I’ll be looking forward to your review of Sharon’s next book. I love books. My kids love books. Thanks
rosie
Thanks Rosie,
I hear great things about it but have only seen the preliminary cover. It’s a boy on a porch that is dark with the house lit up. Looks dramatic! Almost as if the house is on fire (but it’s not). But there is SOMETHING interesting inside that house!!