Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Eight-year-old Iva Honeycutt is sure that she's destined for greatness. And this summer Iva has big plans to make her first great discovery: finding General Braddock's treasure, which was buried somewhere in her small town of Uncertain, Virginia during the French and Indian War. And to make sure she's up to the task, she invents a new name for her discoverer self, Iva Honeysuckle.
Still, even a great discoverer can hit a few bumps on the road. Like Iva's bossy double-first cousin, Heaven. And her great-great-grandfather Ludwell's treasure map not exactly being crystal clear. And on top of it all, her supposedly trusty dog, Sweetlips, falling asleep on the job. Must Iva do everything on her own?
Candice Ransom and Heather Ross have created a sweet, self-assured and completely irrepressible heroine in Iva.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ransom (The Old Blue Pickup Truck) attempts a humorous, affecting story about a wacky, brave, and determined eight-year-old with mixed success. Iva Honeysuckle announces her life's ambition early on: to become a "famous discoverer," beginning by "finding the buried gold her great-grandfather Ludwell Honeycutt spent his whole life looking for." Some of her misadventures are of her own making; others are provoked by her irritating, tattletale, double-first cousin (her parents married siblings), Heaven, and are mildly amusing at best. Iva's and Heaven's mothers each bore three children of similar ages and live next door to each other, so their kids could become best friends; only Iva refuses to cooperate, and, given Heaven's unsympathetic disposition, readers will fully understand why. While the premise of Iva's family situation, personality, and ambition has potential, the book suffers from a lack of development in both character and plot, and is peppered with distractingly offbeat names (Cazy Sparkle, Euple Free, Walser Compton, Swannanoah Priddy). The reconciliation between the cousins is not very credible. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 7 10.
