by Sharon Creech
Flap Copy Description:
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...
My Thoughts:
The Great Unexpected is really not unexpected when you're speaking of a novel written by Newbery Medal winner, Sharon Creech. This middle grade story is magnificent! Although I've read a number of novels written by Ms. Creech, this is by far my favorite. While reading The Great Unexpected, I couldn't help thinking of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, and I even thought of Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, at times. The deep character development in this richly entertaining story leads to a profound plot with the kinds of twists and turns every avid reader enjoys. I will say that the only thing that didn't grab me was the book's cover; for me it doesn't portray the mystery and magic the author captured so well. I would highly recommend this middle grade novel to readers from the ages of eight to eighty!
To learn more about the author - Sharon Creech - click here: http://sharoncreech.com/meet-sharon-creech
