I fell in love with Sandra Kring's first book: The Book of Bright Ideas last month. In fact, I loved it so much, I followed it up with her second book, Carry Me Home which I also enjoyed. Her third and most recent book, Thank You For All Things was also a hit with me.
This story has an eleven year old narrator who was great; her name is Lucy McGowan. Lucy and her brother Milo are twins. They are both gifted with genius level IQs, although brother Milo has Lucy beat by 30+ points. Milo is nerdy and always has his nose in a book or is working on complex mathematical formulas, while Lucy is extremely intuitive. At age eleven she already knows she wants to be a psychologist when she grows up.
Tess, their single mom, their grandmother Lucille, and the twins leave Chicago for Timber Falls, Wisconsin, to care for Tess' father who is dying. Tess is dealing with unresolved conflicts, carrying her own baggage from her childhood. The father was an abusive man who failed at marriage and fatherhood.
Lucy believes her visit to Wisconsin will help her to found out who her father was. She is very curious, and she goes to work with her investigation. By reading her mothers old journal entries, she hopes to solve some mysteries about her families past. What Lucy finds is a bit more than she bargained for.
The family dynamics in this book were great, and all of the characters were so well developed. While her first book The Book of Bright Ideas is still my absolute favorite, this one was still great. Sandra Kring will be added to my list of favorite authors, and I will be looking forward to more books by this talented author.
RATING - 4.5/5 - COMPLETED - 2/6/09
WHERE FROM: Library
GReat review Diane. I think I told you this one is on my shelf so now I'm even more anxious to get to it. I didn't realize she had other books out too-I'll have to check into those. Glad you liked it so much.
ReplyDeleteI have been wanting to read her books, Diane. Now I am even more anxious to get them!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really neat-I've never heard of Kring before. Off to see if my library has your favourite. :)
ReplyDeleteI've never read anything by this author before, but now I'm intrigued...thanks for putting this on my radar...
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I haven't read her before, will have to track her down now.
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