Cover Image

Swing sideways

by Steveson, Nanci Turner,

Format: Print Book 2016
Availability: Available at 1 Library 1 of 2 copies

Available (1)
Location Collection Call #
CLP - Squirrel Hill Children's Fiction Collection j FICTION Steveson
Location  CLP - Squirrel Hill
 
Collection  Children's Fiction Collection
 
Call Number  j FICTION Steveson
 
 
 
Unavailable (1)
Location Collection Status
CLP - Main Library First Floor Children's Department - Fiction Collection STAFF USE
Location  CLP - Main Library
 
Collection  First Floor Children's Department - Fiction Collection
 
Status  STAFF USE
 
 

Summary

Perfect for fans of Bridge to Terabithia and Walk Two Moons, this debut middle grade novel is the story of two girls and the unforgettable summer in which they learn about true friendship and loss.

Annie has been promised a summer of freedom in the country. Freedom from a difficult school year, freedom from her fake "friends" back in the city, and, most of all, freedom from her mom's life-governing spreadsheets and rigid schedules.

When Annie meets California, who is visiting her grandfather's farm, it seems she has found the perfect partner for the summer she's always craved. Especially when California offers Annie a real-life adventure: if she and Annie can find the ponies her mom rode as a girl, surely it will remind her mom how wonderful the farm is--and fix what's broken between her mom and her grandfather.

But Annie's summer of freedom is sprinkled with secrets, and everything she has learned about bravery and love will be put to the test when the truth behind the ultimate secret changes her life forever.

Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Annie needs a therapeutic summer in the country more fun and fewer schedules as she tries to recover from an eating disorder and anxiety attacks, made worse by her mother's intensely controlling ways. Unexpectedly, summer turns out to be kind of magical as Annie makes a friend, California, at a nearby farm. The two embark on escapades brimming with intrigue and excitement, but it turns out that both have serious agendas: Annie needs to recover her emotional health before starting the new school year, while California desperately wants to reconcile her mother, Piper, with California's grandfather. California is desperate to break the years of estrangement that have hobbled the family for a reason that becomes gut-wrenchingly evident later on. This powerful tale of friendship and hope, made especially poignant by each girl's struggle to repair family relationships, will capture hearts. Add an injured dog, a search for mysterious ponies, woods made for adventures, and heartbreak that never becomes mawkish, and you have a story about so much more than summer fun.--O'Malley, Anne Copyright 2016 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Steveson debuts with a empathic summer-of-change story in which panic-attack-prone Annabel transforms from a skinny, anxiety-ridden bookworm into a healthier, stronger, and braver girl. She and her parents are spending the summer at their lake house, as usual, but Annabel's therapist has insisted that she have an unstructured schedule with plenty of independence, instead of living by her controlling mother's spreadsheets. Befriended by the local hermit's free-spirited granddaughter, California-who explains that she is visiting to help her grandfather recover from his chemotherapy treatments-Annabel renames herself Annie and throws herself into "the Freedom Plan" with a vengeance. Before long, however, she is in over her head, involved in California's questionable adventures, lying to her parents, and sneaking out at night (to tend to a sick, abandoned dog). Steveson sets up a promising portrayal of intriguing dynamics in both families, but Anna's transformation happens so rapidly as to not be entirely believable, and late-arriving revelations make the ending seem of a different spirit than the rest of the book. Ages 8-12. Agent: Al Zuckerman, Writers House. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved."

Additional Information
Subjects Girls -- Juvenile fiction.
Friendship -- Juvenile fiction.
Grief -- Juvenile fiction.
Middle schools -- Juvenile fiction.
Girls -- Fiction.
Friendship -- Fiction.
Grief -- Fiction.
Middle schools -- Fiction.
Publisher New York, NY :Harper,2016
Edition First edition.
Audience Ages 8-12.
Language English
Description 278 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN 9780062374547
0062374540
Other Classic View