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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781250103598 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Square Fish |
| Publication date: | 11/17/2015 |
| Sold by: | Macmillan |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 40 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
| Age Range: | 7 - 10 Years |
About the Author
Karen Hesse is the author of many books for young people, including Out of the Dust, winner of the Newbery Medal, Letters from Rifka, Brooklyn Bridge, Phoenix Rising, Sable and Lavender. In addition to the Newbery, she has received honors including the Scott O’Dell Historical Fiction Award, the MacArthur Fellowship “Genius” Award and the Christopher Award, and was nominated for a National Jewish Book Award. Born in Baltimore, Hesse graduated from the University of Maryland. She and her husband Randy live in Vermont.
Andrew Glass is the author and illustrator of many books for children, including the Newbery Honor books Graven Images: Three Stories by Paul Fleischman and The Wish Giver: Three Tales of Coven Tree by Bill Brittain. Andrew lives in Manhattan with his wife and daughter.
Read an Excerpt
Lavender
By Karen Hesse, Andrew Glass
Macmillan
Copyright © 1993 Karen HesseAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-250-10359-8
CHAPTER 1
Sleepover
"Hold on, young lady. Where are you going?" Mom asks.
I put my overnight bag down in the front hall and stand at the edge of the living room.
"It's Saturday," I say. "Sleepover at Aunt Alix's."
"Are you sure Aunt Alix wants you, Codie?" Mom says. "With the baby due so soon?"
"Aunt Alix wants me," I say. "Go ask her."
Mom calls Aunt Alix on the phone. While they talk, I slip into the kitchen and pocket three peanut-butter cookies.
A few minutes later, Mom hangs up. "Aunt Alix says of course you should come. She says to run straight over."
Mom bends down. Her breath smells of peppermint tea. I kiss her on the cheek and pick up my overnight bag. The door bangs shut behind me as Mom calls, "Don't slam the storm door, Codie."
"Sorry, Mom," I call back and head up the block to Aunt Alix's house.
CHAPTER 2Pins and Needles
I practice whistling as I walk up Aunt Alix's path. The dogs leap to the storm door, barking.
From the sewing room, Aunt Alix calls, "Quiet, dogs! Quiet!"
I reach inside my coat pocket and close my hand over the peanut-butter cookies.
"Here, Gina. Here, Lance. Here, Tracy," I say, opening the door and stepping in.
Aunt Alix lumbers up the steps from the sewing room, a dressmaker pin clasped in her lips.
I worry about that pin.
"What if you swallow it?" I ask. "What if the pin sticks the baby?"
Aunt Alix's eyes tell me the pin will not stick the baby. But she takes it from her mouth and pokes it into her wrist cushion all the same.
Up in Aunt Alix's muddled living room, the dogs gobble their peanut-butter cookies. Settling on the lumpy sofa, they lick the crumbs from one another's whiskers.
"How's my cousin doing?" I ask. I put my ear to Aunt Alix's belly.
"Swimmingly," says Aunt Alix.
Aunt Alix pretends it's easy having a baby, but I know it isn't always. Aunt Alix has tried having a baby lots of times. This is the closest she's come to a baby fully done.
Aunt Alix's baby will be my first cousin.
Mom and Aunt Alix have dozens of cousins. It's about time I had one, too.
CHAPTER 3Make Room for Codie
I follow Aunt Alix down to the sewing room.
Folds of flannel hang over the ironing board. Fabrics spill from the shelves.
Aunt Alix is pinning a skirt on Eleanor, the headless mannequin. I hold up the waist of the skirt and hand Aunt Alix pins.
"Is this for Mrs. Zobris?" I ask. Aunt Alix makes most of Mrs. Zobris's clothes.
"Yes," says Aunt Alix, adjusting the waistband.
It takes longer than usual with the pinning. When we finish, Aunt Alix eases down into her chair.
"Thanks for your help, Codie," she says, reaching out for me.
Aunt Alix holds me close against her big, hard belly where the baby is growing.
I stretch my arms around her middle and try to hug back. Aunt Alix's belly gets in the way.
"Hey," I say to my cousin inside Aunt Alix, "make room for me."
Aunt Alix says, "There will always be room for you, Codie."
And she means it.
CHAPTER 4Baby Things
Aunt Alix sits at her sewing machine. I sit on the stool beside her.
Picking up a long strip of silky fabric, I rub it between my fingers.
"What's this for?" I ask.
"It's for the baby," Aunt Alix says.
She shows me the tiny clothes she has sewn. They are mostly in different shades of purple.
"Are you all ready for the baby, then?" I ask.
"Not quite," says Aunt Alix. "I won't be fully ready until the blanket is done."
I have a secret. I am making my cousin a blanket all by myself. It's a surprise.
"What kind of blanket are you making?" I ask. I hold my breath.
"Oh, I'll just use that remnant of flannel," Aunt Alix says. "And trim it with the lavender ribbon." Lavender is Aunt Alix's favorite color.
I'm making Aunt Alix's baby a blanket from material out of the scrap box. It's a crazy mixed-up quilt to go with Aunt Alix's crazy mixed-up house.
"I have plenty time to make a blanket, though, Codie," Aunt Alix says. "The baby's not due for two more weeks. First things first."
Aunt Alix slides the seam of Mrs. Zobris's skirt under the fingers of her sewing machine. She touches her foot to the pedal and the motor hums.
CHAPTER 5Making Music
Aunt Alix leans forward. The sewing machine sings its rubbing song. Its silver tooth races up and down. Fabric creeps forward out of Aunt Alix's lap, folding itself against the back wall. I free the material whenever it gets caught on something.
The radio plays overhead. Aunt Alix and I sing along.
When we don't know the words, we make some up.
"Cream-colored ponies,
and cold apple noodles,
cowbells and dumbbells,
and spaniels and poodles."
Suddenly Aunt Alix straightens in her chair.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
Aunt Alix looks down at her belly. "Your cousin just kicked me."
I see the baby glide under Aunt Alix's shirt.
"That's not kicking, Aunt Alix," I say. "That's dancing."
* * *
While Aunt Alix works at her machine, I practice my hand sewing on some scraps.
I'm sewing my cousin's blanket by hand, too. I've packed it in my overnight bag to work on when Aunt Alix and Uncle Chuck think I'm asleep. At home, I work on the quilt in my room, with the door closed. Not even Mom knows about it.
And I'm nearly done, I have mostly the trim around the edges left. I can easily finish in two weeks.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Lavender by Karen Hesse, Andrew Glass. Copyright © 1993 Karen Hesse. Excerpted by permission of Macmillan.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Title Page,Copyright Notice,
Dedication,
1 Sleepover,
2 Pins and Needles,
3 Make Room for Codie,
4 Baby Things,
5 Making Music,
6 French Toast,
7 It's Time,
8 Trimming the Night,
9 It's a Color,
10 Preparations,
11 The Baby,
12 Lavender,
About the Authors,
Copyright,