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Narrated by Stina Nielsen
Kevin HenkesUnabridged — 2 hours, 43 minutes
Narrated by Stina Nielsen
Kevin HenkesUnabridged — 2 hours, 43 minutes
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Returning to the beach cottage-a cottage named Scallop-where she has always celebrated her birthday is a special occasion for Alice Rice.
Who will see the first dolphin this time? The first pelican? What will have changed? Stayed the same? And will this be the year she finally finds a junonia shell?
Alice's friends are all returning, too. And she's certain her parents have the best party planned for her. Alice can't wait. If Alice is lucky, everything will be absolutely perfect. Will Alice be lucky?
Multiple award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Kevin Henkes brings his insightful, gentle, real-world insight to middle grade novels, including:
Many contemporary kids' novels are so packed with external action that they offer few glimpses of the quieter but no less dramatic process of individuation, of a child becoming an "I"…Henkes carefully attends to such moments, grounding them in small, sensuous details…As finely shaded as its titular shell, this novel engages the mind and heart.
—The Washington Post
Henkes perfectly captures Alice's angst as she spins between the little-girlhood she's leaving behind and the adolescence that looms in front of her, and he expertly reveals introspective Alice's musings. Henkes knows that Alice, like many girls her age, carries plenty of things in her mind—and her heart—that she seldom speaks of. She mulls them over privately, and in Henkes's hands, eloquently.
—The New York Times
In this introspective story about a child's search for a rare shell, Henkes (Bird Lake Moon) again displays his ability to find profound meaning in ordinary events. Every year Alice Rice and her parents take a trip to Florida's Sanibel Island, but this year things are different. Some of the people Alice is looking forward to seeing are missing, and the neighboring cabin usually rented to a fun artist from New York is now occupied by a friend of Alice's mother, her new boyfriend, and his moody and disruptive six-year-old daughter. Swallowing her disappointment, Alice still believes that her vacation will be a success if only she can find the rare shell she most covets, the junonia ("After all, she was going to be ten. Finding a junonia would be the perfect gift"). Like her disappointments, Alice's discoveries aren't what she expects, but her understanding of people—both old friends and new acquaintances—deepens during the process. Readers will empathize with Alice's frustrations and relish her moments of joy. Images of the beach and the moving, meaningful interactions between characters will linger with readers. Ages 8–12. (June)
Henkes knows that Alice, like many girls her age, carries plenty of things in her mind—and her heart—that she seldom speaks of. She mulls them over privately, and in Henkes’s hands, eloquently.” — New York Times
“Very few writers have such a keen understanding of the emotional lives of children; here Henkes is at the top of his game.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“In this introspective story about a child’s search for a rare shell, Henkes again displays his ability to find profound meaning in ordinary events. . . . Readers will empathize with Alice’s frustrations and relish her moments of joy.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“With tender observations and sensory details, Henkes creates a memorable young individual whose arcadian growing up is authentic and pitch-perfect.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Alice balances between familiarity and novelty, coziness and independence, self-centeredness and altruism—the balance beam of turning ten. . . . A fully realized, respectful portrait of a childhood milestone.” — The Horn Book
With tender observations and sensory details, Henkes creates a memorable young individual whose arcadian growing up is authentic and pitch-perfect.
Henkes knows that Alice, like many girls her age, carries plenty of things in her mind—and her heart—that she seldom speaks of. She mulls them over privately, and in Henkes’s hands, eloquently.
Alice balances between familiarity and novelty, coziness and independence, self-centeredness and altruism—the balance beam of turning ten. . . . A fully realized, respectful portrait of a childhood milestone.
"With tender observations and sensory details, Henkes creates a memorable young individual whose arcadian growing up is authentic and pitch-perfect."
Gr 3–6—Alice is planning to celebrate her 10th birthday on her family's annual vacation to Sanibel Island, Florida. This year, her mother's friend is coming with her boyfriend and her six-year-old daughter Mallory who is troubled and impetuous. Stina Nielsen beautifully narrates Kevin Henkes's book (Greenwillow, 2011). She utilizes a variety of vocal inflections and perfectly conveys the variety of adolescent emotions Alice experiences—from the euphoric excitement and anticipation she feels as her family arrives at their rental cottage to the bitter disappointment she experiences upon learning some of the other annual vacationers won't be present this year to her quest for the elusive junonia shell. Listeners will feel that they are walking alongside Alice on her journey.—Cathie Bashaw Morton, Millbrook Central School District, NY
Every year, Alice celebrates her birthday week in February with her parents in a cottage on the beach in Sanibel, far from her snowy Wisconsin home.
This year, as she turns 10, the expected holiday company varies just enough to feel odd and challenging: The neighboring Wishmeiers' grandchildren didn't come; another neighbor is snowbound in New York; "aunt" Kate arrives with a new boyfriend and his six-year-old daughter in tow. Alice's longed-for find, a prized junonia mollusk shell, never quite materializes as expected. Henkes' deceptively economical language is rich and complex, cognizant of the ways that the world of adults reveals itself to children, aware of the emotional weight of objects. The third-person narration offers a sense of depth and story beyond the borders of the novel itself, providing distance enough for readers to draw their own conclusions. The author's own drawings grace the cover and chapter openings; the overall book design is elegant and supremely comfortable for middle-grade readers. An only child surrounded by affection, routine and attention, Alice has the space to realize that life can be an adventure experienced independently, even while held closely by those one loves.
Very few writers have such a keen understanding of the emotional lives of children; here Henkes is at the top of his game. (Fiction. 8-12)
| BN ID: | 2940173520043 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 05/24/2011 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Age Range: | 8 - 11 Years |
