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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
lighthearted
Truly Lovejoy comes from a long line of Lovejoys. When her father is injured in Afghanistan and loses his arm, the family picks up and moves to his hometown in New Hampshire. JT can't be a pilot with only one arm and his injury has turned him into Silent Man. Truly misses her joking father and feels like she is invisible in her family of seven. It doesn't help that her math grades are bad and she has to be tutored by her dad before he will let her join the swim team.
JT and his sister True have taken over the family bookstore, Lovejoy's Books, while their parents join the Peace Corp. Truly isn't thrilled with leaving Texas or her best friend. In Pumpkin Falls, she tries to go into stealth mode, but being 6-feet tall and new in a small town she definitely stands out. She is soon friends with Lucas and Cha Cha and solving a 20-year-old mystery. While helping out in the shop she finds an unmailed letter in a first edition of Charlotte's Web. The clues in the letter lead the friends allover Pumpkin Falls and introduces them to a lot of interesting characters around town.
I really enjoy small town books with quirky characters and Pumpkin Falls seems to have its share. There is the busybody postmistress, the bag lady who seems to carry kittens in every pocked and the helicopter mom who can't seem to let Lucas grow up. Pumpkin Falls also has a winter festival and a required cotillion for the middle schoolers. Then there is the frozen waterfalls and the fact that the town was founded by a Lovejoy. It all adds up to an interesting story. I liked the fish-out-of-water aspect of Truly's tale and the fact that her dad is a wounded warrior. I thought the mystery aspect wasn't that interesting and didn't really add much to the story; however, the rest of it was really entertaining and a fun read.
JT and his sister True have taken over the family bookstore, Lovejoy's Books, while their parents join the Peace Corp. Truly isn't thrilled with leaving Texas or her best friend. In Pumpkin Falls, she tries to go into stealth mode, but being 6-feet tall and new in a small town she definitely stands out. She is soon friends with Lucas and Cha Cha and solving a 20-year-old mystery. While helping out in the shop she finds an unmailed letter in a first edition of Charlotte's Web. The clues in the letter lead the friends allover Pumpkin Falls and introduces them to a lot of interesting characters around town.
I really enjoy small town books with quirky characters and Pumpkin Falls seems to have its share. There is the busybody postmistress, the bag lady who seems to carry kittens in every pocked and the helicopter mom who can't seem to let Lucas grow up. Pumpkin Falls also has a winter festival and a required cotillion for the middle schoolers. Then there is the frozen waterfalls and the fact that the town was founded by a Lovejoy. It all adds up to an interesting story. I liked the fish-out-of-water aspect of Truly's tale and the fact that her dad is a wounded warrior. I thought the mystery aspect wasn't that interesting and didn't really add much to the story; however, the rest of it was really entertaining and a fun read.
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Fun, laugh-out-loud read. Touch of mystery, splash of family, and scoop of friendship. Great read!
Booktalk: Truly Lovejoy's dad lost his arm in a crash in Afghanistan. His military career over he is moving his family back to his home town. Instead of hanging out with her friends, Truly must now make new friends...not easy for a 6 foot tall, shoe size 10 girl with a name that rhymes with drooly. But then Truly finds a long hidden mysterious letter that leads to another clue, and another, hinting at a long forgotten village romance.
Booktalk: Truly Lovejoy's dad lost his arm in a crash in Afghanistan. His military career over he is moving his family back to his home town. Instead of hanging out with her friends, Truly must now make new friends...not easy for a 6 foot tall, shoe size 10 girl with a name that rhymes with drooly. But then Truly finds a long hidden mysterious letter that leads to another clue, and another, hinting at a long forgotten village romance.
I have tweens that just loved this. I think the characters were strong, and the setting was great...where it kind of just didn't work for me was the mystery aspect. It left me a bit underwhelmed and between the Charlotte's Web book missing, and the mystery notes...the two just didn't tie together enough and at times it felt like the mystery took too much of a backseat to everything else that was happening. The family and friendship dynamics were the strong points. That being said, I do hope she writes another Truly book, and I have plenty of kids that I can hand this to.
This was a super fun, adorable, lovable book! It's set in the teeny tiny town of Pumpkin Falls New Hampshire, and centers around a 12-year-old girl named Truly. She has a big family including 4 brothers and sisters.
It deals with some serious stuff, her dad just came back from war and had to have his arm amputated. It gently covers some issues about PTSD.
The family moves to NH to help run the family book store, which has been around for 100 years or so. While looking around the store, Truly finds a secret message hidden in an original copy of Charlotte's Web. From there, she goes on a fascinating adventure and makes new friends along the way.
I really (truly) loved this book. :)
It deals with some serious stuff, her dad just came back from war and had to have his arm amputated. It gently covers some issues about PTSD.
The family moves to NH to help run the family book store, which has been around for 100 years or so. While looking around the store, Truly finds a secret message hidden in an original copy of Charlotte's Web. From there, she goes on a fascinating adventure and makes new friends along the way.
I really (truly) loved this book. :)
It feels more like 3 1/2 stars. Pleasant story about a girl who moves with her family to the east coast abruptly and how they fare. Truly was a decent protagonist who was likeable but not particularly deep. Hmm, this doesn't sound like I liked this book but I did enjoy it and would recommend it to my students. It's a nice book to read on a lazy day.
I feel like the author was going for kind of a Stars Hollow thing with the adorable New England town full of kooky characters with weird names, but the quirk felt "off" with the protagonist being so serious. The whole story was very, very tame, even for middle grade; it's basically just about life getting slightly better over a period of weeks for Truly (with some setbacks), and also there is a scavenger hunt?
It's been a long time since I stayed up way too late reading a book, so the fact that this middle grade realistic fiction completely grabbed me was a pleasant surprise. There are multiple storylines going on - Save the family business, will Dad adjust to his new, distinctly non-military life, will that mean boy ever stop teasing Truly, will Truly be allowed to try out for the swim team, and of course, will she and her friends solve the mystery? These plots are skillfully juggled by the very experienced author. I will be reading more!
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I struggled with this middle grade mystery. It was a little slow and more character-driven, but I didn't really connect with the characters. I wish more of the plot revolved around the mystery, but it felt like that would come up once every few chapters and we were mostly reading about the protagonist's family and school life (which I unfortunately just didn't connect with). I enjoyed the coziness of the New Hampshire winter, the family's bookstore, and various sites that were important to the mystery, like the covered bridge.