Heartbeat [Library Binding]

Sharon Creech (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Run run run.

That's what twelve-year-old Annie loves to do. When she's barefoot and running, she can hear her heart beating . . .

thump-THUMP, thump-THUMP.

It's a rhythm that makes sense in a year when everything's shifting: Her mother is pregnant, her grandfather is forgetful, and her best friend, Max, is always moody. Everything is changing, just like the apple Annie's been assigned to draw a hundred times.

Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech masterfully weaves this story about a young girl beginning to understand the many rhythms of life and how she fits within them.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7 A tenderhearted story told in spare, free-verse poems. Annie, 12, takes great pleasure in running, but has no interest in racing or becoming a member of a team. For her, the pure joy comes from feeling the earth beneath her bare feet and the wind in her face. The experience is totally different for her moody friend and running partner, Max. For him, running is a way to escape his personal problems. Annie's comfortable, tightly knit world begins to unravel when she learns that her mother is pregnant and she becomes increasingly aware that her beloved Grandpa, a former champion racer, is slipping into dementia. She is a resourceful, self-possessed kid who takes comfort in the familiar but is able to face change and take it in stride. She marvels at the new life taking shape in her midst (her father provides month-by-month summations of the baby's development) and mourns the loss of her grandfather's strong and nurturing wisdom. School, art class, and chores appear throughout the verses, creating an everyday rhythm that matches the footfalls of this engaging heroine who loves to move, but who is willing to stop and smell the roses. Readers will enjoy meeting Annie, her family, and friends and will appreciate her resilience and spirit. This is vintage Creech, and its richness lies in its sheer simplicity.--Luann Toth, School Library Journal
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-6. "I love to run / but I don't want to run / in a herd," avows 11-year-old Annie, the free-spirited, ruminative narrator of Creech's second novel in verse. Annie's nonconformist outlook has raised tensions with her running buddy, Max, who can't understand why Annie won't join him on the track team. In the meantime, Annie's mother is pregnant, which thrills Annie but brings her grandfather's failing health into painful focus. In the midst of these shifting relationships, a creative teacher's school assignment offers solace and, as in Love That Dog (2001), an opportunity for self-discovery: Annie must draw a single apple each day for 100 days. The symbolism of the apple seems belabored, and the story's gentle momentum will probably hook only the most thoughtful young readers. But like the apple Annie draws, this story is a lovingly crafted, miniature landscape, which will find its most passionate advocates among Creech's numerous adult fans. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Library Binding: 192 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (March 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060540230
• ISBN-13: 978-0060540234
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,052,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sharon Creech is the author of the Newbery Medal winner Walk Two Moons and the Newbery Honor Book The Wanderer. Her other work includes the novels Hate That Cat, The Castle Corona, Replay, Heartbeat, Granny Torrelli Makes Soup, Ruby Holler, Love That Dog, Bloomability, Absolutely Normal Chaos, Chasing Redbird, and Pleasing the Ghost, as well as three picture books: A Fine, Fine School; Fishing in the Air; and Who's That Baby? Ms. Creech and her husband live in upstate New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple writing that resonates, June 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Heartbeat (Hardcover)

Annie loves to run and draw. When her teacher assigns them to draw 100 pictures of the same apple, Annie begins to see things in different ways. Her grandfather's forgetfulness and the baby growing inside her mother are part of a rhythm, a heartbeat, that Annie begins to explore.

Simple writing underscores it's profound themes. Destined to become a classic.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, July 7, 2008

By 

Madigan McGillicuddy "Librarian" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heartbeat (Paperback)

Wow. Amazing narrative poetry of a very self-aware young girl. Annie is a runner and an artist. Her mother is expecting a new baby, her grandfather has Alzheimer's and is slowly slipping away, and she spends a lot of time with her neighbor and competitive friend Max. The novel made charming use of footnotes and grammar. It's a poignant and beautifully told tale, with simplicity and heart. I wept. It was beautiful.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thump-thump, thump-thump, May 9, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Heartbeat (Hardcover)

This is an awesome book!! In the book the main character is a twelve year old girl named Annie and she loves to run. Her favorite thing to do is run barefoot through the park with her friend Max, and she does this every season, winter, spring, summer and fall. I agree with her statement in the book, "Thump-thump, thump-thump... knowing I could fly fly fly, but letting my feet... thump-thump, thump-thump... touch the earth." I love to run, just like Annie does, and I feel the same way when I run. I feel as though I can just pick my feet up off the ground and I could fly away from all my troubles.
I also liked the book because it was interesting. It described how Annie was dealing with having the same problems that most teenagers go through. She talked about school, friends, family and teachers that made her upset, confused or angry, just like what we go through. She found a way to deal with her problems..... by running. In the book she says that running makes her feel free and happy.
I also liked that, in the book, Annie had to draw 1 picture of an apple every day until she had 100 pictures. I think that that showed how things change everyday and there no way to control it. She finds that out in the book, that almost nothing ever stays the same.