The Book of Bright Ideas [Hardcover]

Sandra Kring (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• ISBN-10: 0739469568
• ISBN-13: 978-0739469569
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (95 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,091,529 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Precious Gem, June 12, 2007

By 

Gayla Collins (Sheridan, WYOMING USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Book of Bright Ideas (Paperback)

I have been reading a plethora of genres for 40+ years, and every once in a wonderful while I stumble across a masterpiece that fortifies my love of prose. "The Book of Bright Ideas" is a precious gem among the junk jewelry of average reads. Button, narrator, gifts a summer to remember as her new best friend, Winnalee, blows into town in a beat-up pick-up driven by her sister, Freeda. Fierce, fearless, and opinionated, 10 year old Winnalee is bound to stir up Button's quietly sad childhood. Through their myriad of adventures, planned and NOT SO PLANNED, life lessons are earned. So many life lessons that Winnalee and Button strive to savor them in "A Book of Bright Ideas," which will quarentee their happiness in the future. Oh, that it could be true!


Kring has a gift of vivid description, rich dialogue, nearly ethereal insight and flavorful charm. Like Harper Lee, Sue Kidd Monk, Kaye Gibbons, and other greats, her work demands and receives your full attention and your deepest respect.

This is brilliant writing at it's finest....read this book and remember why you ever started reading in the first place.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bright AND Beautiful, September 27, 2006

By 

Michele Cozzens "www.michelecozzens.com" (Cloud 8) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Book of Bright Ideas (Paperback)

I realize it's an overused phrase, "I couldn't put it down," however, if any book deserves to be described in this manner, it's this charming and beautifully-written story called "The Book of Bright Ideas." I picked it up because of the cover art, a little blond girl with a tutu and a tiara, and I liked the idea of reading about friendship. And that's exactly what this story is about. It's about a friendship not only between the nine-year-old narrator, "Button," and a little girl named Winnalee, but also between the women in their lives, the exotic and wild Freeda, the conservative and self-loathing Jewel, and the lovable and joyful Aunt Verdella. I found the voice of the narrator captivating and consistent, so pure in spirit--dripping with innocence--that I was completely engrossed in her story of the summer Freeda and Winnalee showed up in their small Wisconsin town.

The characters and the relationships are complicated and intriguing. Winnalee, a gypsy of a girl obsessed with fairies, dress-up clothes, and the urn holding the ashes of her "Ma," carries around a display book of blank pages with the title "Great Expectations," in which she records bright ideas as they come to her. She numbers them and has a goal to reach 100 bright ideas, believing this magical number will allow her to know all the secrets of life. When she moves into Button's dead grandmother's house, Winnalee becomes Button's best friend and allows Button to add ideas to the book as they come to her. The ideas are never random, but always based on a personal experience and refreshingly down to earth and amusing. For example, "Bright Idea #90: After you play beauty shop, your husband might say you look like a beauty queen, or he might just ask you where the Phillips screwdriver is. Either way, it doesn't matter, as long as your new hair makes you think nice things about yourself." I found myself devouring each chapter and particularly looking forward to the next bright idea.

I loved this book.

Michele Cozzens is the author of It's Not Your Mother's Bridge Club.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book, June 19, 2006

By 

A Reader (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of Bright Ideas (Paperback)

I just finished this book, and it was a delight from beginning to end. Sandra Kring made me care about every single character in the story, even when they were doing things I didn't like. She draws her characters with such clearsighted tenderness that they are full-color believable and utterly irresistable.

The scenes are so well-crafted that I felt as if I were in them, and happy to be there. Kring is a born writer. She tosses out profundities with casual ease and makes you laugh even when she's dealing with subjects that call for tears.

I did not want this book to end, and when I finished it, I immediately began hoping she'll write a sequel.

This is something special.