bookshelf

THE UNSIGNED VALENTINE

Name: THE UNSIGNED VALENTINE
Author: Johanna Hurwitz
ISBN: 0-06-056053-3

AND OTHER EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF EMMA MEADE

by Johanna Hurwitz & illustrated by Mary Azarian ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2006

bookshelf

Hurwitz continues her early 20th-century series begun in Faraway Summer (1998), focusing on Emma’s coming-of-age year when she turns 16. It is one year later as Emma records life on her Vermont farm and small community from early fall through a harsh winter into early spring. Weaving in and around certain true historical events of the area, Emma’s story is one of hard work, responsibility and a budding romance—all amid family needs and parental expectations through a long drought season followed by a dangerously wet destructive spring flood. As in the previous installment, Hurwitz renders a fine look into the era and setting in her easy, smooth writing style, peppered with the dilemmas of a young woman’s role within society and family, her intrigue about courtship and jealousy and the perils of Vermont blizzards. An author’s note provides a nice explanation and rationale for her approach to the story’s events. Azarian’s black-and-white illustrations complement the overall mood. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-06-056053-3

Page Count: 176

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
DOUBLE OR NOTHING WITH THE TWO AND ONLY KELLY TWINS
by Johanna Hurwitz ; illustrated by Tuesday Mourning

- BOOK REVIEW
THE TWO AND ONLY KELLY TWINS
by Johanna Hurwitz ; illustrated by Tuesday Mourning

- BOOK REVIEW
I FOOLED YOU
edited by Johanna Hurwitz

bookshelf

THE SEVENTH MOST IMPORTANT THING

by Shelley Pearsall ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 8, 2015

Luminescent, just like the artwork it celebrates. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

bookshelf

Traumatized by his father’s recent death, a boy throws a brick at an old man who collects junk in his neighborhood and winds up on probation working for him.

Pearsall bases the book on a famed real work of folk art, the Throne of the Third Heaven, by James Hampton, a janitor who built his work in a garage in Washington, D.C., from bits of light bulbs, foil, mirrors, wood, bottles, coffee cans, and cardboard—the titular seven most important things. In late 1963, 13-year-old Arthur finds himself looking for junk for Mr. Hampton, who needs help with his artistic masterpiece, begun during World War II. The book focuses on redemption rather than art, as Hampton forgives the fictional Arthur for his crime, getting the boy to participate in his work at first reluctantly, later with love. Arthur struggles with his anger over his father’s death and his mother’s new boyfriend. Readers watch as Arthur transfers much of his love for his father to Mr. Hampton and accepts responsibility for saving the art when it becomes endangered. Written in a homespun style that reflects the simple components of the artwork, the story guides readers along with Arthur to an understanding of the most important things in life.

Luminescent, just like the artwork it celebrates. (Historical fiction. 10-14)