All the Answers

by Kate Messner

Overview

What if your pencil had all the answers? Would you ace every test? Would you know what your teachers were thinking? When Ava Anderson finds a scratched up pencil she doodles like she would with any other pencil. But when she writes a question in the margin of her math quiz, she hears a clear answer in a voice no one else seems to hear.
With the help of her friend Sophie, Ava figures out that the pencil will answer factual questions only – those with definite right or wrong answers – but won't predict the future. Ava and Sophie discover all kinds of uses for the pencil, and Ava's confidence grows with each answer. But it's getting shorter with every sharpening, and when the pencil reveals a scary truth about Ava's family, she realizes that sometimes the bravest people are the ones who live without all the answers...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781619633742
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	01/27/2015
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	1,259,972
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	720L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kate Messner is passionately curious and writes books that encourage kids to wonder, too. Her titles include award-winning picture books like Over and Under the Snow, Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, and How to Read a Story; novels like Capture the Flag, The Seventh Wish, and Breakout; the Fergus and Zeke easy reader series, and the Ranger in Time historical chapter book series. Kate lives on Lake Champlain with her family and is trying to summit all forty-six Adirondack High Peaks in between book deadlines.
www.katemessner.com
@KateMessner

Editorial Reviews

12/22/2014
Ava Anderson, a 12-year-old chronic worrier, comes across a pencil that appears to be able to talk, telling her the answers to her questions about everything from mathematical formulas for a quiz to concerns over family members' health problems. Messner (Manhunt) has created a relatable, sympathetic character in anxious Ava, and her story is at its best when Ava's life remains centered around the norms of her school, friends, and multigenerational family, as well as the lighter dilemmas and possibilities the magic pencil raises, such as whether it's cheating to use it on homework, or which boy likes her best friend. However, despite the potential of the premise, it flounders a bit when too many worries are piled onto Ava's plate, overloading the story with serious concerns over dementia, breast cancer, gambling addictions, and the death of a loved one. Ava eventually comes to learn that "life isn't about knowing all the answers," but she must bear some heavy burdens in order to come to that knowledge. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

03/01/2015
Gr 4–6—Middle schooler Ava always seems to be nervous about something: her math quiz, an upcoming field trip to an adventure park, the possibility of her parents divorcing. When she uses an old blue pencil found in a junk drawer to write a question in the margin of her math quiz, a voice that only she can hear tells her the correct answer. It turns out that the pencil can answer factual questions of all kinds, from what people think and feel queries about schoolwork. Ava and her friend Sophie use the magical power of the pencil to try to help the elderly people in Ava's grandpa's old age home and in the process make discoveries about her grandpa's thoughts and wishes. So far so good, but when Ava discovers through the pencil that her mother has breast cancer and that her mother is about to postpone her mammogram so that she can accompany Ava on her adventure park trip, Ava finds herself having to call on all her inner resources to ensure that her mother goes for her test. In the process, she surprises herself at what she is able to do. When Ava realizes that the magic pencil is inhabited by a piece of her long-dead grandmother's spirit, she helps to make her grandfather's last moments happier. Ava is a sympathetic and well-rounded character, and the relationship, conflicts included, between her and the more outgoing Sophie rings true. The writing is smooth and the dialogue believable. VERDICT Firmly planted in realistic fiction with a single fantastical element, this story will appeal to Wendy Mass fans as well as those who love Messner's previous novels.—Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York

School Library Journal

2014-11-04
When 12-year-old Ava Anderson finds a magic pencil in the kitchen junk drawer, geometry becomes a lot easier—and her life becomes much more complicated.Ava lives with her family in upstate New York, along with two goats purchased by her father in hopes that fresh goats' milk will help Anderson's General Store survive the new Shop-Mart superstore. Ava is afraid of the goats. She's also afraid of math tests, band audition, field trips and participating in the lunchtime library book club at school. So when her pencil says, "Two Pi R," when she desperately writes, "What is the formula to find the circumference of a circle?" on her math test, she sees her road to certainty. But it won't answer just any question—like whether her parents may get divorced—as people have free will, and some answers are just plain terrifying, like whether her grandmother is going to die. Messner plunges Ava into recognizable preteen situations both at school and at home. She stuffs her book with issues, though, and both the nature of and the explanation for the pencil's magic are fatally contrived. Nevertheless, readers will cheer as Ava heroically tackles a terrifying ropes course alone so that her mother will get a medical test only Ava knows she needs. This sympathetic protagonist offers children a mostly successful look at clinical anxiety. (Fantasy. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

"It's no surprise that Kate Messner’s magic pen could write a charming, moving, funny, and ultimately very surprising story about a magic pencil!" —Wendy Mass, New York Times best selling author of 11 BIRTHDAYS

"Messner (Manhunt) has created a relatable, sympathetic character in anxious Ava, and her story is at its best when Ava's life remains centered around the norms of her school, friends, and multigenerational family." —Publishers Weekly

"Ava learns lessons about coping and bravery that should resonate with middle grade readers struggling with their own anxieties. Although Ava is constantly worried, the novel’s tone remains bright and cheerful. Yes, there’s a magical pencil, but this remains an emotionally resonant portrait of a sweet girl whose struggles are firmly rooted in reality." —Booklist

"Will appeal to Wendy Mass fans as well as those who love Messner’s previous novels." —School Library Journal

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