Sometimes people appear in our lives just when we need them and, just as mysteriously, disappear. That is what happens to 12-year-old Naomi Deane in Newbery medalist Sharon Creech's (Walk Two Moons) gentle coming-of-age novel tinged with humor and magic.
A boy drops out of a tree and startles Naomi in the book's first chapter. He is not a native of her hometown of Blackbird Tree, so where did he come from? What could he mean by his semiconscious remark, "Don't take the gold," and his cryptic reference to Rooks Orchard? And how did he manage to "[infiltrate] my brain like a virus?" Naomi wonders. She is used to disappearances. Naomi's mother died in childbirth, and her father died saving her from a rabid dog at age three. But neighbors Nula and Joe took in Naomi and care for her as if she were their own. Naomi's best friend, Lizzie Scatterding, was also taken in by neighbors in Blackbird Tree. They have much to be grateful for, and yet... Naomi keeps thinking about how that Finn boy who fell out of a tree "seemed to fit so easily in his body, unlike the other, clumsy boys around."
Naomi's first-person account alternates with chapters set "across the ocean" in Ireland that shine a light on the doings of a certain Mrs. Kavanagh. Bit by bit, Creech begins to connect the two threads, through a pair of crows in the curio cabinet of one-armed Farley, where Naomi and Lizzie come to call, and also through the mysterious Finn boy and his charms. Creech explores the pangs of first love, the loneliness of a friend's betrayal, and the wish to truly belong somewhere--anywhere. The author weaves together the stories on both sides of the Atlantic through Naomi's and Mrs. Kavanagh's shared experiences. Mrs. Kavanagh learns the painful lesson that "a sister's trust was worth more than the gold in a rich man's vault," just as Naomi realizes the true value of her friendship with Lizzie.
Creech once again crafts quirky characters that reinforce the sense of a small town where everyone knows everyone's business, and her spot-on dialogue makes each seem credible. As with so many of her books, love--of family, friends and home, wherever we may find it--pulls her characters together and outweighs any amount of gold. --Jennifer M. Brown
Shelf Talker: Sharon Creech's humorous and touching tale stretches from Ireland to America and proves that love outweighs any pot of gold.