Summer of the Gypsy Moths

by Sara Pennypacker

Overview

From Clementine author Sara Pennypacker, this is a poignant middle-grade novel about two foster children who must find a way to work together in order to survive.

Eleven-year-old Stella misses her (unreliable) mom, but she loves it at great-aunt Louise’s house. Louise lives on Cape Cod, where Stella hopes her mom will someday come and settle down. The only problem? Angel, the foster kid Louise has taken in. The two girls live together but there’s no way they’ll ever be friends.

Then Louise suddenly passes away one morning—and Stella and Angel decide not to tell anyone. Now they have to depend on each other for survival. Now they are forced to trust each other with the biggest secret ever.

With great empathy and humor, Sara Pennypacker tells the story of two very different girls who unexpectedly become each other’s true family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061964220
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/23/2013
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	275
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	670L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Sara Pennypacker is the author of the New York Times bestselling Pax and Pax, Journey Home; the award-winning Clementine series and its spinoff series, Waylon; and the acclaimed novels Summer of the Gypsy Moths and Here in the Real World. She divides her time between Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Florida. You can visit her online at sarapennypacker.com.

Editorial Reviews

Sara Pennypacker, author of the beloved Clementine series for younger readers, tells the story of two opposites who must find a way to work together to survive. While the situation may be extreme, young readers will relate to the challenges of having to work with people completely different from you.

Brightly

Pennypacker is a Beverly Cleary-caliber girl-whisperer; she can weave a yarn both funny and touching, with all the beloved, timeworn themes at the ready: friendship, family, loyalty, loss and independence.

New York Times Book Review

Sara Pennypacker, author of the beloved Clementine series for younger readers, tells the story of two opposites who must find a way to work together to survive. While the situation may be extreme, young readers will relate to the challenges of having to work with people completely different from you.

Brightly.com

…Pennypacker is a ­Beverly Cleary-caliber girl-whisperer; she can weave a yarn both funny and touching, with all the beloved, timeworn themes at the ready: friendship, family, loyalty, loss and independence.
—The New York Times Book Review

Elisabeth Egan

★ “A suspenseful, surprising novel of friendship and family from the creator of the popular Clementine series.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

★ “Beautifully evoked, the novel’s Cape Cod setting plays a focal role in this richly layered tale of loss, resiliency, and belonging.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Pennypacker is a Beverly Cleary-caliber girl-whisperer; she can weave a yarn both funny and touching, with all the beloved, timeworn themes at the ready: friendship, family, loyalty, loss and independence.” — New York Times Book Review

“Pennypacker’s marvelously tactile writing animates Stella’s narration and brings both engaging, resilient, and resourceful characters to life.” — School Library Journal

“Sara Pennypacker, author of the beloved Clementine series for younger readers, tells the story of two opposites who must find a way to work together to survive. While the situation may be extreme, young readers will relate to the challenges of having to work with people completely different from you.” — Brightly

From the Publisher

Praise for CLEMENTINE’S LETTER“This may be the best entry so far in the series, as Pennypacker develops her ingenious but impulsive character...And Frazee’s line drawings go a little further this time in showing Clementine’s highly charged emotions and her capacity for creating chaos in her surroundings

The Horn Book

Desperate times call for desperate measures indeed when, one summer afternoon on Cape Cod, 11-year-old Stella finds her sole caretaker, her great-aunt Louise, dead in her chair. Stella, who's been abandoned by her mom, and Louise's 12-year-old foster child Angel know the second they call 911 they'll be hauled off by the authorities… and the thought of having to leave a good home for who knows where is too much to bear. So they bury Louise in the garden. The suspense escalates. How long will Stella and Angel be able to keep Louise's death a secret in a small community? Will dogs dig up the body? Will the girls be able to pull off the task of assuming Louise's duties as manager of the Linger Longer Cottage Colony? How long can they survive eating relish, stale croutons and "Froot Loop dust"? The unfolding story is both deliciously intense and entertaining. Stella, an order-seeking girl whose oracle is Heloise (of hint fame), not only knows how to keep a corpse from smelling (Febreze), she employs old pantyhose and Crisco to keep the gypsy moths off Louise's beloved blueberry bushes. Stella's poetic, philosophical observations of the world are often genuinely moving, and tough-on-the-outside Angel is her perfect foil. A suspenseful, surprising novel of friendship and family from the creator of the popular Clementine series. (Fiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews