Keeping Safe the Stars by Sheila O'Connor for MMGM -- and Giveaway Winners!

First, I have some winners to announce in my Road Trip Giveaway!  The first prize (a package including an arc of MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT, a signed mini-poster and an arc of GREAT UNEXPECTED) goes to:

VIVIEN

  

Congrats, Vivien!  Expect an email from me.  You were only 60 miles off our actual driving distance of 2140 miles. Good guess!

For the second prize, amazingly, we have a tie!

BARBARA WATSON

and

NATALIE LORENZI

both guessed 1900 miles, which is the next closest guess! So, ladies, here's what I will do. The first to respond to my email will win Prize Package #2 (an arc of WHAT CAME FROM THE STARS and an arc of THIRD GRADE ANGELS).  The second to respond will win Prize #3, an arc of THE PECULIAR. Hope that's fair, and if you'd prefer a different arc, please email me and I'll see what I can find!

And if you didn't win something, come back on Friday, August 31 to enter a YA giveaway! I'm interviewing Corrine Jackson, author of IF I LIE and TOUCHED.  I'll be giving away a copy of her first book.

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Now onto MMGM! Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is the brainchild of Shannon Messenger.  For other participants, see my sidebar or Shannon's links.

Keeping Safe the Stars by Sheila O'Connor (Coming Oct 13, 2012 from Putnam, for ages 10 and up)


Source: advanced reading copy from publisher

Synopsis (from Indiebound): When crisis hits, a young girl becomes the only one left to take care of her family.

Pride, Nightingale and Baby are the Stars. Orphaned and living with their grandfather, Old Finn, in rural Minnesota, the children, like their grandfather, are wary of outsiders. They believe, as Old Finn taught them, in self-reliance.

But then Old Finn falls seriously ill and is taken to the hospital all the way in Duluth, leaving the children to fend for themselves. Pride, as oldest, assumes the lead. Though she makes mistakes, she keeps them afloat; they even earn money for the bus trip to Duluth. But when they finally see Old Finn, he can't walk or even say his own name, and Pride knows her days of keeping safe the Stars are drawing to a close. Self-reliance can't make Old Finn well again. But maybe, just maybe, a secret from Old Finn's past might make a way for them to stay together after all.

Why I liked it:  I know, I know; it's not coming out until October!  But I adore this book so much, I couldn't wait to share it with you! You may remember how much I loved the author's previous middle-grade novel, Sparrow Road (see my review here).  Well, this book is even better. O'Connor has outdone herself here.

Pride is a wonderful character. She seemed like a real girl in my mind. The prose is rich and powerful; the descriptions are gorgeous -- you'll have no trouble picturing Eden (Old Finn's farm) or the city. This takes place during the summer of the Watergate hearings, yet it has a timeless quality.  I love quiet books that explore the depths of one girl's heart. And oh, the ending is lovely.

I've always enjoyed stories about kids having to survive on their own, starting with The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner (which I read in third grade!).  What about you? What middle-grade books about kids on their own do you carry in your heart?