The Stars of Whistling Ridge: An Enchanting Middle Grade Tale About Magic, Family, and Finding Where You Belong for Kids (Ages 8-12) - Hardcover

Baldwin, Cindy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0063006413 ISBN 13: 9780063006416

Publisher: Quill Tree Books, 2021

Synopsis

This enchanting story about magic, family, and the meaning of home from the award-winning author of Where the Watermelons Grow is perfect for fans of Corey Ann Haydu and Natalie Lloyd.

Ivy Mae Bloom is almost thirteen years old, her name is almost a complete sentence, and her family’s RV is almost a home. That’s one too many “almosts” for Ivy. She desperately wants a place to put down roots, but it’s her mama’s job as a fallen star to tend the magic underpinning the world—a job that’s kept Ivy’s family living on the road since before Ivy was born.

After Ivy steals Mama's entire supply of wish jars in the hopes of finding a place to call home, disaster strands her family in Whistling Ridge, North Carolina, with Mama's star sisters. Ivy falls for Whistling Ridge immediately—she just needs to convince her parents to stay.

But something is draining the magic from the town, and the star sisters can't pinpoint it. Ivy and her new friends find a clue in Whistling Ridge's history that might explain the mysterious threat...but if Whistling Ridge’s magic is fixed, Mama will need to move on. Ivy is faced with an impossible decision: How can she help the star sisters lift the curse if it means losing her best chance at a forever home?

• A Heartfelt Coming of Age Story: Ivy is on the cusp of thirteen and just wants a place to belong. But her wish for a forever home might have terrible consequences for the people she loves.
• Three Unforgettable Sisters: Follow the Bloom sisters—almost-thirteen-year-old Ivy, anxious and musical Elena, and eight-year-old science prodigy Sophie—as they navigate life on the road and a town full of secrets.
• A Fallen Star and a Mysterious Curse: When a magical drain threatens Whistling Ridge and her star-aunt, Ivy must uncover a hundred-year-old secret to save them all.
• An Enchanting Appalachian Mountains Setting: From apple orchards filled with smoky secrets to a town steeped in history and magic, Whistling Ridge is a place you won’t want to leave.

About this title

About the Author

Cindy Baldwin is the award-winning author of Where the Watermelons Grow, Beginners Welcome, and The Stars of Whistling Ridge. She is a disabled activist, cofounder of Middle Grade at Heart, and We Need Diverse Books mentor. She lives just outside Portland, Oregon, with her husband and daughter. To learn more about Cindy, visit cindybaldwinbooks.com.

Reviews

Gr 4–7—Twelve-year-old Ivy Mae Bloom is tired of living in an RV, and traveling around the country all the time with her parents and two younger sisters. But her mother is a falling star, who is charged with repairing places in the world where magic is broken, and for that she has to travel. One day Ivy Mae steals nine of her mother's wishing jars, and uses them all to wish for a forever home. The next day, Ivy wakes up with a serious illness that makes it hard for her to breathe. The family quickly drives to her Aunt Agatha's house in Whistling Ridge, North Carolina, a place where Ivy feels an immediate sense of belonging. But there's something seriously wrong in Whistling Ridge, something that's causing the town's famous apples to be filled with smoke. As Ivy learns more about the town and its history, she begins to suspect that the problems are linked to Lydia Lovelace, a woman who supposedly died of a broken heart many years before. With complex, believable characters, and a premise that blends everyday life with an original magical backstory, this novel balances the familiar resentments of adolescence with a high-stakes fantasy plot. It also explores the tensions between multiple characters who care deeply for each other, in spite of having radically different goals. The main characters (Ivy and her family, and her friend Simon) are all described as white (although Ivy's mom and aunts are described as having golden skin and white hair), while one of Ivy's friends, Ravi, is Indian American, and the town librarian is described as having "light brown skin, and shiny straight black hair." Baldwin adeptly develops even the minor characters, like Ravi's father, a pharmacist with an obsession with creating new flavors of ice cream, and one of Simon's two moms, a former chef who makes amazing cupcakes. Since Ivy is an aspiring writer, she often includes embellished language (like frisson and cataclysm) and their definitions into her first-person narrative. VERDICT This well-written, magical story will appeal to fans of Ingrid Law's Savvy, and other novels that blend fantasy with contemporary fiction.—Ashley Larsen, Pacifica Libs., CA

Edition details

• Publisher: Quill Tree Books
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0063006413
• ISBN 13: 9780063006416
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400