Just Dance
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
“[A] memorable story.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
From Newbery Award–winning author Patricia MacLachlan comes a “quiet tale about finding your own voice” (Kirkus Reviews) while learning to understand the people you love the most.
Sylvie Bloom wants to find something new and exciting this summer—at least more exciting than the cows, goats, and chickens on her family’s farm that she’s become accustomed to. Luckily, Sylvie’s teacher Mrs. Ludolf has the perfect idea. Sylvie can take over her husband Sheriff Ludolf’s column in the newspaper for the summer, reporting on all the important events that happen in their small Wyoming town. Sylvie is thrilled to have a new challenge, but she’s not sure she’ll actually see anything amazing. At least nothing like the things her mother saw when she traveled the world as a famous opera singer.
Sylvie can’t figure out why her mother would give up singing in front of thousands of people. Have she and her brother Nate been holding her mother back? And when her mother’s old duet partner James Grayson writes that he’s coming to perform nearby, will she be tempted to return to the stage, without them?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a characteristically subtle novel set in rural Wyoming, MacLachlan intertwines past and present as she explores the truest meaning of family, home, and fulfillment. Ten-year-old Sylvie Bloom's mother, a soprano who once performed in grand European concert halls, now uses her musical talent to calm their farm animals (she reserves The Magic Flute for the chickens). Her voice also mesmerizes her daughter, son, and husband, who huddle by the bathroom door when she sings arias in the shower. Sylvie ponders, with some anguish, how her mother could have abandoned her glamorous former life: "It is hard to believe that loving my father is enough. It is hard to believe that Nate and I are enough." Ironically, as fourth grade ends, the restless narrator longs for "something different" herself, which she finds in a summer job writing (in verse) the sheriff's log in the local paper: "Not invited!/ A murder of crows/ sly/ sleek/ Eating the Bean field." Sylvie's close bonds with her brother and an array of supportive adults distinguish this memorable story, which showcases MacLachlan's gifts for rich characterization, honest emotion, and deceptive simplicity. Ages 7 up.