Love under trying circumstances: One night out of the blue, Ratchet Clark’s ill-natured mother tells her that Ratchet will be leaving their Pensacola apartment momentarily to take the train up north. There she will spend the summer with her aged relatives Penpen and Tilly, inseparable twins who couldn’t look more different from each other.
Staying at their secluded house, Ratchet is treated to a passel of strange family history and local lore, along with heaps of generosity and care that she has never experienced before. Also, Penpen has recently espoused a new philosophy – whatever shows up on your doorstep you have to let in.
Through thick wilderness, down forgotten, bear-ridden roads, come a variety of characters, drawn to Penpen and Tilly’s open door. It is with vast reservations that the cautious Tilly allows these unwelcome guests in. But it turns out that unwelcome guests may bring the greatest gifts.
Book Reviews:
School Library Journal: "Offbeat, slapstick humor is mitigated by poignancy...readers are in for a wise and wacky ride."
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review): "Unruly, unpredictable and utterly compelling...Readers may find themselves wondering just how far Horvath will go with her uncensored, Mad Hatter humor - and they won't be disappointed with her steering."
Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review): "Once again Horvath displays a genius for creating multigenerational, interestingly extended families, and for blending high and low comedy into a tale rife with important themes and life-changing events."
Book Awards:
- Canada: CLA Book of the Year for Young Adults 2004
- USA: National Book Award
- USA: ALA (American Library Assn), Best Books for Young Adults
- USA: New York Public Library, Books for the Teen Age
- USA: Horn Book Magazine, Fanfare List
- USA: Chicago Tribune, Best Books of the Year
- USA: Kirkus Reviews, Editor's Choice
- USA: Publishers Weekly, Best Children's Books of the Year
- USA: School Library Journal, Best Books of the Year
About the Author:
Polly Horvath (born 30 January 1957, Kalamazoo, Michigan) is an American author. She grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan and has been writing since 8. However, when she was a teenager she quit writing and attended the Canadian College of Dance.
Horvath has won both the Newbery Honor (for Everything on a Waffle and National Book Award for The Canning Season). She once declared: "I don't have that much fun writing them (books). I have the most fun when I'm on the last page."
Horvath is married to Arnie Keller and they have two daughters, Emily and Rebecca. She lives in British Columbia. Horvath has a horse named Zaya and a dog collie named Keena.
