That Wild Berries Should Grow: The Story of a Summer - Softcover

Whelan, Gloria

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080285091X ISBN 13: 9780802850911

Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co, 1994

Synopsis

Elsa dreads spending the summer at her grandparents' house on Lake Huron, but she discovers the excitement of nature and the richness of friendship

About this title

About the Author:

Gloria Whelan was born in Detroit, Michigan. She attended the University of Michigan where she received both her B.S. degree and her Masters in Social Work. She has worked as a social worker and as an instructor in American Literature. She is currently the Writer in Residence at the Interlochen Academy for the Arts in Interlochen, Michigan.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 5-8-Whelan evokes a 1933 Michigan summer with vivid descriptions and warmly wrought characters. Elsa (of indeterminate age-too young to like boys, old enough to write stories and poems) has been ill. Her parents send her to stay with her German-born grandparents, whose cottage is by a lake, where there is nothing to do. Against the background of Depression worries and Hitler's rise to power in Germany, Elsa comes to embrace the rhythms of country life and the special qualities of her grandparents. Mild, steady grandpappa paints flowers and names the trees in the orchard while industrious grandmamma grows impatient with her granddaughter's reading only because she can't read well in English herself. Elsa's summer diary is really a series of stories, each preceded by a free-verse poem. Images shine like spots of color: the girl dancing to her grandfather's violin; the taste of wild berries and potatoes fried with bacon; the smell of fish on her hands. The drama here is that of days passing and of Elsa growing to understand more of the world and the people around her. A gentle, authentic slice of childhood with the timeless feel of summer.
Sally Bates Goodroe, Houston Public Library
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 080285091X
• ISBN 13: 9780802850911
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 122