The House That Wasn't There
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
"In this luminous story full of mystery and magic, Elana K. Arnold weaves a shimmering tapestry about the lovely and surprising ways we’re connected to each other. Heart-healing, hopeful, and wonderfully inventive, this beautiful novel by a master storyteller is not to be missed." —Katherine Applegate, Newbery Medal-winning author of The One and Only Ivan
Alder has always lived in his cozy little house in Southern California. And for as long as he can remember, the old, reliable, comforting walnut tree has stood between his house and the one next door. That is, until a new family—with a particularly annoying girl his age—moves into the neighboring house and, without warning, cuts it down.
Oak doesn’t understand why her family had to move to Southern California. She has to attend a new school, find new friends, and live in a new house that isn’t even ready—her mother had to cut down a tree on their property line in order to make room for a second floor. And now a strange boy next door won’t stop staring at her, like she did something wrong moving here in the first place.
As Oak and Alder start school together, they can’t imagine ever becoming friends. But the two of them soon discover a series of connections between them—mysterious, possibly even magical puzzles they can’t put together. At least not without each other’s help.
Award-winning author Elana K. Arnold returns with an unforgettable story of the strange, wondrous threads that run between all of us, whether we know they’re there or not.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In an enticing story about "opossums and teacups and kittens and doors. Fathers and sweaters and yarn balls and more," Arnold (Starla Jean) centers a series of coincidences that lead to magic and change. Eleven-year-old Alder resents the new next-door neighbors, who have cut down the giant, beloved walnut tree that shaded his and his widowed mother's "small but neat" home. As a result, Alder, a knitter who recently lost his best friend to cross-country club, wants nothing to do with new neighbor, Oak, who's herself angry about moving from San Francisco to L.A. Nevertheless, they're drawn together time and again—the classmates even inadvertently adopt sibling kittens, who lead them to a mysterious house on the site of the downed tree, one that is occupied by a living version of Arnold's most beloved companion, a taxidermied possum named Mort. Told through alternating perspectives that offer clearly rendered details, this compassionate novel gives a unique twist to familiar situations—feeling lonely, adjusting to new environments, forging new bonds—while inviting readers to open their imaginations to all sorts of wonderful possibilities. Ages 8–12.
