Everywhere - Hardcover

BROOKS, Bruce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060207280 ISBN 13: 9780060207281

Publisher: Harper & Row, 1990

Synopsis

Afraid that his beloved grandfather will die after suffering a heart attack, a nine-year-old boy agrees to join ten-year-old Dooley in performing a mysterious ritual called soul switching.

About this title

About the Author:

Bruce Brooks was born in Virginia and began writing fiction at age ten. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972 and from the University Of Iowa Writer's Workshop in 1980. He has worked as a newspaper reporter, a magazine writer, newsletter editor, movie critic, teacher and lecturer.

Bruce Brooks has twice received the Newbery Honor, first in 1985 for Moves Make the Man, and again in 1992 for What Hearts. He is also the author of Everywhere, Midnight Hour Encores, Asylum for Nightface, Vanishing, and Throwing Smoke. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

From School Library Journal:

A gem of a story to be read aloud or to be savored while curled up alone in a private nook, Everywhere is brilliantly written and likely to endure for years to come. It takes only one page for Brooks to establish the convincing voice of a believable ten-year-old boy, shaken and afraid because his beloved grandfather is near death. He welcomes the arrival of Dooley, the 11-year-old nephew of his grandfather's black nurse, who is brought in to keep him company during the crisis. Borrowing information extracted from comic-book lore, Dooley explains the theory of "soul switching" and executes that procedure with a turtle, thereby saving the old gentleman from death. Brooks prepares his readers for a gory scene and then deftly provides a reassuring, credible, wholly satisfying denouement. No death, no bloodshed, and Dooley emerges a proud, dignified, splendid character indeed. The narrator remains introspective and thoughtful to the end, and has the maturity to see the wonder of the incident long after. The writing is polished and the mood evoked is not unlike that of To Kill a Mockingbird , revealing a knowledge and understanding of the South in the not too distant past. (However, the gritty and pragmatic nurse may remind adults of Hollywood's Hattie McDaniel.) The special affection that exists between grandfather and grandson is moving, but never maudlin. Each facet of this story contributes to its overall luster. --Phyllis G. Sidorsky, National Cathedral School, Washington, DC
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper & Row
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0060207280
• ISBN 13: 9780060207281
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 70