The Great Unexpected [Hardcover]

Sharon Creech (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 4, 2012 | Age Range: 8 and up

From Newbery Medal winner and bestselling author Sharon Creech comes a grand, sweeping yarn that is a celebration of the great and unexpected gifts of love, friendship, and forgiveness. With a starred review from Kirkus Reviews calling it an "enchanting tale to treasure," The Great Unexpected captures the heart and the imagination.

Humorous and heartfelt, this is a story of pairs—of young Naomi and Lizzie, both orphans in present-day Blackbird Tree, USA, and of Sybil and Nula, grown-up sisters from faraway Rook's Orchard, Ireland, who have become estranged.

Young Naomi Deane is brimming with curiosity and her best friend, Lizzie Scatterding, could talk the ears off a cornfield. Naomi has a knack for being around when trouble happens. She knows all the peculiar people in town—like Crazy Cora and Witch Wiggins. But then, one day, a boy drops out of a tree. Just like that. A strangely charming Finn boy. And then the Dingle Dangle man appears, asking all kinds of questions. Curious surprises are revealed—three locked trunks, a pair of rooks, a crooked bridge, and that boy—and soon Naomi and Lizzie find their lives changed forever.

As two worlds are woven together, Creech reveals that hearts can be mended and that there is indeed a gossamer thread that connects us all.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 5-7-After an epigraph, prologue, and first chapter that increasingly pull readers in deeper and deeper, The Great Unexpected-part realistic fiction, part mystery, and part ghost story-disappoints. In the small, probably Southern town of Blackbird Tree, orphaned 12-year-old Naomi Deane receives a whack on the head as an inert boy tumbles down from a tree. Joined by her motormouth friend, Lizzie Scatterding, she pronounces the boy "dead," but he soon sits up and starts asking questions in a strange accent-clearly, he's not from around there. Naomi Deane's narration constitutes the bulk of the story, but every third or fourth chapter takes place "Across the Ocean" in a grand Irish estate, where readers follow the antics of elderly companions Mrs. Kavanagh and Miss Pilpenny. Creech gradually reveals the connections between the two story lines; clues appear in appropriately small doses that will appeal to young detectives. But a confusing narrative style makes the book hard to follow. Instead of consistently using a progressive or episodic structure for either plotline, Creech alternates between the two, which places readers in an uncomfortably disorienting position upon beginning each chapter: Does this start where we left off, or have several weeks passed? Overuse of quirky and alliterative names such as "the dapper Dingle Dangle man," the "dim Dimmenses," "Crazy Cora," and "Witch Wiggins" distracts from the story. For better-told small-town adventures and rich language, try Richard Peck's A Long Way from Chicago (Dial, 1998) or Susan Patron's The Higher Power of Lucky (S & S, 2006).-Allison Bruce, The Berkeley Carrol School, Brooklyn, NYα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Review

"Gently timeless atmosphere...featherlight touch." The Guardian "(Readers) will be constantly rewarded and surprised ... The language here is exhilerating and amusing in its new-minted invention. 5 stars." Books for Keeps "Creech's characters are endearing and her writing is a delight in this intriguing book. One of those stories that stays with you long after you have finished reading. " Booksellers' Choice, The Bookseller "A heart warming and delicate story" Julia Eccleshare, Lovereading 'Book of the Month' "An enchanting tale to treasure in which ordinary folk find fairies' gold, run across crooked bridges and mend their broken hearts. " Kirkus Starred Review --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; First Edition edition (September 4, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061892327
• ISBN-13: 978-0061892325
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #45 in Books > Children's Books > Social Situations > Family Life > Multigenerational

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Expect the Best! September 4, 2012

By Donna

Sharon Creech's new novel, THE GREAT UNEXPECTED, is (not unexpectedly) a delightful read. In masterful, true Creech style, the characters are memorable, the language refreshing and often poetic, and the tale an enchanting page-turner filled with secrets, humor, decisions, "coincidences," and deeper meanings. The townspeople of Blackbird Tree, particularly the children, meet misfortune with a matter-of-fact bravery. The only thing that scares Naomi is dogs. The only thing that scares Lizzie is being without a home. They understand each other's fears and quirks and nothing can get in the way of their friendship--except perhaps the mysterious appearance of a boy named Finn? And Finn is only the first of peculiar happenings.

While best for ages 8 to 12 (and the younger readers may not make all the marvelous connections at first), this is one of those rare books that readers of all ages will treasure, not only for its engaging story, but its enduring message of hope.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What I Learned About Storytelling from The Great Unexpected September 4, 2012

By Studies in Storytelling

This review is from my blog, Studies in Storytelling. Please view the complete version here:[...]

I read this book in one sitting, and it was a complete delight. I say this as a 21-year-old college senior unaccustomed to reading Middle Grade. It releases September 4, 2012.

The twelve-year-old, neurotic Naomi has a violent past and a childlike perspective, but a refreshingly sophisticated voice. Her sarcasm and levelheadedness contrast her friend Lizzie Scatterdinghead's innocent, tactful chatterboxing in one of the best foils I've ever witnessed.

When a little Irishman falls out of a tree and knocks her over, he becomes her first crush. Duh dun SHHH.

As the opening chapters suggest - Naomi and Lizzie refer to Finn as "a body" and as "it" - he's mysterious enough to make you wonder, for some time, whether he's paranormal. Meanwhile, a couple of women casually plot "murders" across the ocean, and many dots link Naomi's and Lizzie's little country town of Blackbird Tree, and the dots demand explanation.

What I learned about storytelling: I've got a countdown this time.

3. Interactive character description is incredibly vivid. When the book comes out, I will be copying a passage about Joe from chapter 7.

2. I remember this trick from Walk Two Moons. Creech adds some distance to the love stories woven into these middle grade books, maybe to tone down the romance for younger kids, maybe to add poignance and mystery, maybe both. The most intimate scene in the book is told in two parts, with a brief intermission, in past perfect tense.

1. There's a saying about writing: "Don't leave the gun on the mantle." If a character puts a gun above the fireplace, that gun better fire before the story's over. Sharon Creech doesn't just fire the gun. She takes every single item on the mantle and turns it into a weapon. If a bad guy broke into her proverbial plotting house, he'd get shot with all the guns, stabbed with all the candles, have his ribs broken by a giant clock, his head bashed in by books. In The Great Unexpected, Creech ties together threads that you'd forgotten about, and it's as delightful as golden thread spun from straw.

To break it down a little more: I think the motifs and repeating imagery of this book create a narrow world. Crows, trees, wrinkles, dogs, Finns, and more crows. It's comfortable, then it's almost annoying until it gets comforting again - and then the world expands, and it's great and unexpected.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great But Not Unexpected Gift September 13, 2012

By Kathy

This is a delightful book that I read in one sitting. Sharon Creech has done it again with this beautifully written and lyrical story. It is warm, witty, full of memorable and eccentric characters, secrets and coincidences, hidden meaning and life lessons for our children. As you begin to put the pieces of the puzzle of the story together it will remind you that we are all connected by that invisible thread and the actions of one many times affect the lives of others.

Naomi Deane and Lizzie Scatterding are two best friends in the small town of Blackbird Tree. Both are wounded orphans living daily with their fears. Naomi is an old soul, wise beyond her years and terrified of dogs. A vicious attack by one as a child left her maimed and took the life of her father. Lizzie is a scattered chatterbox with the inability to lie and the fear of being homeless. Her one hope is that her foster parents will adopt her and give her a sense of permanency.

The tale begins when a mysterious boy named Finn drops out of a tree, literally at the feet of Naomi. His presence in their lives has an effect on their friendship in the same manner that another boy named Finn in another lifetime came between Naomi's guardian Nula and her sister.

Across the pond in Ireland Mrs. Kavanaugh plots at her estate of Rook Orchard to set a plan in motion that will right past wrongs. She sends the mysterious solicitor Mr. Dinkle to the town of Blackbird Tree and the lives of Naomi and Lizzie are changed forever.

As Naomi muses.... "I had big thoughts to match the big wind. I wondered if we find the people we need when we need them. I wondered if we attract our future by some sort of invisible force, or if we are drawn to it by a similar force. I felt I was turning a corner and that change was afoot."

"Did a delicate cobweb link us all, silky lines trailing through the air?"

We are all interconnected as this book poignantly portrays through and bestows upon us the great but not unexpected gift of the storytelling of Ms. Creech.