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What Members Thought
Your parents can't solve all of your problems. Sometimes your parents cause all of your problems.
The same goes for magic!
This book (written by me, so I'm not exactly objective) attempts to weave together elements of a real childhood (mine) and amazing magic.
Because I still believe in both.
(Along with Baltimore, Springsteen, poetry, and seagulls. A few other things I believe in deeply)
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The same goes for magic!
This book (written by me, so I'm not exactly objective) attempts to weave together elements of a real childhood (mine) and amazing magic.
Because I still believe in both.
(Along with Baltimore, Springsteen, poetry, and seagulls. A few other things I believe in deeply)
...more
I voiced this audio edition of my own recent novel, and it was an amazing experience. I cried while recording it. I wonder if you can tell where!
This book is great, bigger than its plot, which means I'm going to find myself thinking about it often, and noticing different things on rereads. I don't know who to recommend it to, because it absolutely oozes pain. ("Oozes" isn't the right word, but I've spent enough time trying to think of the right word. "Wracked with" doesn't get across the feeling of pain coming out of the pages. But it's sharper than an ooze.) My parents never divorced, and I wonder if it might be too much for some of my
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I really liked the voice and the realistic portrayal of this family undergoing a separation. I even think that Rebecca's use of the magical bread box was realistic -- she didn't go crazy with it, and stopped using it (mostly) when she realized how it "worked". Satisfying story.
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I opened this book with trepidation. Ever since our friend-of-a-friend introduction, I'd had great respect for Laurel as a person. I fretted about reading her books, though. What if they weren't quite as awesome as Laurel herself? What would I say? Would it change the way I viewed her? Is it really fair to let an author's work impact my perception of them as a human being? What about the reviews I'd already been reading? They were GREAT. If I didn't like the book, would that mean I was missing s
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Rebecca's parents are separated and she ends up living with her mom, baby brother and Gran in Atlanta, GA. She is miserable wants nothing more than to go back to Baltimore and her dad. Things start looking up when she finds a mysterious bread box in her grandma's attic that has the power to grant any wish...as long as it fits in the box. It takes Rebecca a while to realize that just as matter isn't created or destroyed, the ipod, cash, clothes and other items that show up in her box come from so
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This story would have been enough as a realistic fiction tale about a girl and her family woes. Not sure why grandma had a magic breadbox in her attic, or if she even knew about it, or how it got there. I'd like to know. Maybe I should just accept it as magic and leave it at that, but I can't. I was somewhat annoyed that there was not even a little bit of explanation.
However, despite my issues with the magical breadbox....
The family strife was spot on and I think the characters reacted in compl ...more
However, despite my issues with the magical breadbox....
The family strife was spot on and I think the characters reacted in compl ...more
Very believable narrator and child voice. Believable choices that she made, based on the magic that she was dealing with, although I'm unsure about her choice at the end--I do think she'd probably keep the breadbox. Voice felt a bit older to me at that point, though. A very strong book, and I wish I'd read it earlier--would've been a good book to discuss with our Newbery groups.
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Grades 4-7. Rebecca's mom and dad are having trouble at home. Her mom is doing all the work while her unemployed father seems to have withdrawn from all responsibilities. Then one day, Rebecca's mom packs up their things and tells the kids to get in the car-- they are leaving Massachusetts and driving to stay with grandma in Atlanta. Rebecca struggles to fit into a new school when she hopes it is only temporary--and becomes "Becky" a girl who is "cool" and hangs out with the right crowd. In all
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Yes, I tagged this both fantasy and realistic fiction.
Yes, I am just getting around to reading it.
Yes, I loved it, but am I the only one bothered by the fact that the reason for bad behavior, both for Rebecca and for Hannah, is an absent father?
Summer 2012 #bookaday #27
Yes, I am just getting around to reading it.
Yes, I loved it, but am I the only one bothered by the fact that the reason for bad behavior, both for Rebecca and for Hannah, is an absent father?
Summer 2012 #bookaday #27
Passages I highlighted in the ebook:
"It's funny, Rebecca, how badly moms need presents. They do a lot they never get thanked for, so little things become big things. Presents matter" pg 68
"But sometimes it doesn't matter whether someone is right or wrong. Sometimes you just have to love them when they need you." pg 69
Laurel Snyder's description of the book in the author's note: "A middle grade book about Bruce Springsteen songs and seagulls and divorce and a magical bread box"
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"It's funny, Rebecca, how badly moms need presents. They do a lot they never get thanked for, so little things become big things. Presents matter" pg 68
"But sometimes it doesn't matter whether someone is right or wrong. Sometimes you just have to love them when they need you." pg 69
Laurel Snyder's description of the book in the author's note: "A middle grade book about Bruce Springsteen songs and seagulls and divorce and a magical bread box"
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I liked the magic of the breadbox, and if you want to read a story about how much
suffering a girl goes through because of her parents being separated, this would be the
book for that. Sad and heart breaking.
suffering a girl goes through because of her parents being separated, this would be the
book for that. Sad and heart breaking.
I LOVED Penny Dreadful, so I wanted to love this one, too, but it was a little heavy on the soliloquoy, a bit "Mean Girls," and I was distressed at the loose ends on the very last page.
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Aug 25, 2011
CLM
marked it as to-read
Sep 11, 2011
Jane
marked it as to-read
Oct 11, 2011
Leslie
marked it as to-read
Oct 29, 2011
Geni
marked it as to-read
Jan 19, 2012
Alison
marked it as to-read
Jan 19, 2012
Monica Edinger
added it
Jan 18, 2014
Margo Jantzi
marked it as to-read
Jan 28, 2014
Julie
marked it as to-read
May 05, 2014
Edith
marked it as to-read
Jun 02, 2017
Parry Rigney
marked it as to-read
