A Piece of the Sky (Library Binding)

by David Patneaude (Author) "Hard ground, morning chill, and mule smells woke Matthew before sunrise..." (more)
Key Phrases: Full Moon, Port Orford, Mel Hanson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8–Fourteen-year-old Russell and his mom are spending the summer in Port Orford, OR, to help transition Russell's grandfather into an assisted-living situation. While Californian Russell is unenthusiastic about being there, he does manage to develop a friendship with Phoebe, the daughter of his grandfather's new caregiver. Russell and Phoebe uncover a 100-plus-year-old mystery concerning a large meteorite lying somewhere in the wilderness (based on an actual historical account discussed in an author's note). Several historical chapters interspersed in the narrative cover the initial discovery. Russell, Phoebe, and her older brother head off into the woods to find it, pursued by Full Moon, a villain also looking for the large rock. After a dramatic fight, Russell must continue off-trail alone, in spite of all rules of outdoor safety and common sense. He ultimately finds what he is looking for, but any sweetness that might come with this discovery is clouded by the extreme danger of his decisions. However, kids won't mind the safety issues, and fans of Gordon Korman's On the Run series (Scholastic) will enjoy the sense of danger and the self-sufficiency of the main characters.–Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
In 1856, 13-year-old Matthew accompanies Dr. Evans on a meteorite-hunting expedition into the mountains. Flash forward to the present, when 14-year-old Russell looks at his grandfather's heirloom, a bit of a meteorite given to Grandpa's great-grandfather Matthew by Dr. Evans. Russell, his friend Phoebe, and her older brother set out to look for the rest of that legendary meteorite, dogged by a sinister man who will stop at nothing to claim the valuable prize. Russell's first-person narrative forms the main part of the text, with several flashbacks to Matthew's story told in third person. The inclusion in both time frames of recently returned war veterans, not yet fully healed from their experiences, creates another link between the two stories. Patneaude creates a suspenseful quest tale along with a sensitive portrayal of Russell's sense of loss as his grandfather, suffering from dementia, loses touch with memories and relationships. The appended author's note discusses the Port Orford meteorite, supposedly found by Dr. John Evans in 1856 but never seen again. Set in Oregon, this old-fashioned adventure story has contemporary appeal. Phelan, Carolyn

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Library Binding: 178 pages
• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company (April 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807565369
• ISBN-13: 978-0807565360
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,586,912 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A book that you'll want to finish reading under the covers with a flashlight, February 10, 2007

By	Jennifer Robinson "Editor of Jen Robinson's B... (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A Piece of the Sky. It comes in a bright, dust-jacket free edition, with a picture on the cover, reminiscent of the Hardy Boys books. And maybe it was because of the cover, maybe not, but I felt that it carried echoes of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries. It's an adventure story, with much of the action taking place during a multi-day hike through the woods.

A Piece of the Sky is told in alternating narratives, 150 years apart, as two different boys each search for a hidden meteorite in the Oregon hills. Most of the story takes place in the present, when fourteen-year-old Russell travels to the small town of Port Orford for the summer. Russell and his mother are cleaning out his grandfather's home, because of his grandfather's fading memory. Russell longs to connect with his grandfather, and to bring back the older man's personality. (This dynamic reminded me of Jumping the Scratch, by Sarah Weeks, though the two books are very different from one another). Russell is looking for a way to "open the lock on Grandpa's world".

Thrown in a scrap of meteorite, handed down in the family through several generations, a mysterious old man named Legs, just out of prison for manslaughter, and a bad guy named Full Moon Mullins, and you have all of the ingredients for a non-stop adventure. Russell, and his two friends, Phoebe and Isaac, end up hiking deep into the hills in search of the meteorite, and facing serious danger along the way.

This story has an old-fashioned feel to it. There are modern references (Phoebe's ear buds, Isaac's time fighting in Iraq), but you get the feeling that these references could be changed to others from 20 or 30 years ago, and the rest of the story wouldn't need to change much. I don't think that's literally true. There's a nurse (Phoebe and Isaac's mom) who takes care of Russell's grandfather and Legs in her home. Russell and Phoebe are runners, rather than the bicycle riders that they might have been in an earlier tale. And Isaac's shell-shock and war injury are not glossed over. The old-fashioned thing is more of a feeling - a tone - that the book carries. Personally, I really enjoyed it. I felt like a kid again, reading under the covers with a flashlight, because I had to know how the story ended. I'm pretty sure that I dreamed about Russell, Phoebe, and Isaac hiking through those woods, too. It's clear that the author has actually hiked in an area much like the one described.

While the characterization in this book isn't deep (I had a hard time getting a fix on Phoebe, in particular), the craftsmanship and pacing are excellent. The author demonstrates a flair for spare description that gets things across, without excessive detail. For example, here is Russell's impression of his mother:

"She'd gotten thin enough in the past month to pass for a high school kid, except for the dark shadows around her eyes. She was on the worrying-about-your-dad diet, the one where you spend all day not eating much and trying to figure out what to do with all the stuff collected over seventy years of someone's life. And what to do about that life itself."

And here is Russell's impression of Port Orford:

"Besides being a place where my grandpa had lot his wife and then his mind, Port Orford practically wore one of those Kick Me signs on its rear end. It had no movie theater, no music store, no video game arcade, no running track, no baseball park, no pizza place. The weather was good for one thing: running. The ocean water was so cold I couldn't go in past my knees without threatening future generations of Nolans."

And one final snippet, "Leg's eyes lit up like night windows." Simple, but evocative. All in all, A Piece of the Sky is an engaging read. I recommend it for middle grade boys and girls who are fans of mysteries or survival stories. I think that it will also be a hit with adults looking to re-capture the feeling of those books from childhood, the ones that turned us into mystery lovers in the first place.

This is David Patneaude's ninth book. The most well-known of his earlier titles is Thin Wood Walls, about what it's like to be a young Japanese-American boy in Seattle after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Though I haven't read that one, the reviews are positive, and I think that it would make an excellent companion read to Cynthia Kadohata's Weedflower. I hope that this title will garner the author more wide-spread attention.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on February 10, 2007.

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down!, April 20, 2008

By	Home Library Nut (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

I'm giving this book 5 stars based on my son's inability to put it down until he finished it, not from my own first hand reading.

We've struggled to find books that engage my very reading-capable 8 year old's sense of imagination, and it seems we've hit upon something with this author. Our son reads 2 grade levels above his age, but it's been difficult to get him turned on to much more than reading picture books to his younger siblings. I was worried about the suspensful story line, but he had no nightmares or fears of any kind, though he's not generally afraid of things like the dark either.

We'll be buying the rest of David Patneaude's books and look forward to many more hours of our son eagerly reading!