Grasshopper Summer - Softcover

Turner, Ann

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0689835221 ISBN 13: 9780689835223

Publisher: Aladdin, 2000

Synopsis

In 1874, eleven-year-old Sam White and his family are moving from Kentucky to the Dakota Territory. These hardy pioneers know it will be hard work, but they don't expect the devastating plague that comes like an unstoppable force to sweep away all their hopes for the future. They will cope.
But they will never forget this grasshopper summer.

About this title

About the Author:

Ann Turner is an award-winning screenwriter and director, avid reader, and history lover. She is drawn to salt-sprayed coasts, luminous landscapes, and the people who inhabit them all over the world. She is a passion­ate gardener. Her films include the historical feature Celia, starring Rebecca Smart—which Time Out listed as one of the fifty greatest direc­torial debuts of all time; Hammers Over the Anvil, starring Russell Crowe and Charlotte Rampling; and the psychological thriller Irresistible starring Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill, and Emily Blunt. Ann has lectured in film at the Victorian College of the Arts. Returning to her first love, the written word, in her debut novel The Lost Swimmer, Ann explores themes of love, trust, and the dark side of relationships. Her second novel, Out of the Ice, a mystery thriller set in Antarctica, was published to great acclaim in Australia and will be available in the United States in 2018. Ann was born in Adelaide and lives in Victoria. Visit Ann’s website at AnnTurnerAuthor.com.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 5-8-- When his father decides that it's time for a fresh start far from Kentucky, Sam White is not as enthusiastic as his younger brother Billy. Moving means goodbyes--to his grandparents, to his friends, and to his home. But, faced with no other choice, Sam grips his lucky fossil stone and determines to make the best of the situation. Thus begins the difficult and exciting adventure of a journey to the Dakota Territories in 1874 to start a new life. In vivid language and descriptions, Turner conveys the family's hard and lonely life on the road; their excited efforts in building their new home and preparing the land for planting; and their frustration and heartbreak when all is destroyed by a plague of locusts. Yet there is always the family's bond of love to ease the difficulty. Young readers will particularly enjoy Turner's "creepy" descriptions of the grasshopper invasion and the futility of the family in dealing with it. This book will appeal to fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" series (Harper). A good realistic novel of frontier life. --Elizabeth M. Reardon, McCallie School, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Aladdin
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0689835221
• ISBN 13: 9780689835223
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176
• Illustrator: Meltzer Erika