A perfect summer read set in a mysterious artists' estate in the idyllic Midwestern countryside
It's the summer before seventh grade, and twelve-year-old Raine O'Rourke's mother takes a sudden job at Sparrow Road--a dilapidated mansion that houses a group of eccentric artists. While Raine's mother works as the cook and housekeeper, Raine is left to figure out why she and her mother have really come to Sparrow Road. Secrets seem to be everywhere, but it's an unexpected secret from Raine's own life--the reason she's come to Sparrow Road--that changes her forever.
An affecting and beautifully written story of family and forgiveness, Sparrow Road is a perfect pick for the middle-grade set.
Praise for Sparrow Road:
International Reading Association Award
Midwest Booksellers Choice Awards Finalist
A VOYA Best Book
A Booklist Best Book
A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book
A Bank Street Best Book
★ “Readers finding themselves in this quiet world will find plenty of space to imagine and dream for themselves.” - Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ "[A] timeless piece of middle-grade fiction. . . . A special book." - Booklist, starred review
“[T]he strength of even imperfect human connections is celebrated through the relationships among a multitude of vivid and varied characters.” – BCCB
"Lyrical writing in this first-person narrative, good character development, and a sympathetic heroine will keep readers absorbed." - School Library Journal
"Sparrow Road is a book that strikes—and gentles—with Truth. Here is a world of Sorrow and Comfort, crafted by an artist who dares to suggest, without sentimentality but with a hard-nosed realism, that a broken world can be renewed through love and daring and community and art. What a sweet and hopeful and engaging story." - Gary D. Schmidt, Newbery Honor-winning author of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy and The Wednesday Wars
"Sparrow Road is a place for wishing long and dreaming, and so is this terrific novel. Sparrow Road is quite wonderful and I recommend it highly." - Karen Cushman author of the Newbery Medal-winning, The Midwife’s Apprentice, and the Newbery Honor-winning Catherine, Called Birdy
"Sparrow Road has everything I could ask for in a novel – mysteries, secrets, a creepy mansion with a haunting past, a cast of unforgettable characters, and a twisting tale of self-discovery." - Ann Martin, Newbery Honor-winning author of A Corner of the Universe
