Ginny Off the Map

by Caroline Hickey (Author)

Ginny Off the Map
Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

A heartfelt coming-of-age novel about trying to find one's place in the world perfect for fans of Judy Blume, The Fourteenth Goldfish, and The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl.

There are two things Ginny Pierce loves most in the world: geography facts and her father. But when her dad is deployed overseas and Ginny's family must move to yet another town, not even her facts can keep her afloat. The geography camp she's been anxiously awaiting gets canceled, and her new neighbors prefer her basketball-star sister. Worst of all, her dad is in a war zone and impossible to get ahold of. Ginny decides that running her own camp for the kids on her street will solve all her problems. But can she convince them (and herself) that there's more to her than just facts?

With a fierce heart and steadfast determination, Ginny tackles the challenges and rewards of staying true to herself during a season of growth. This thoughtful novel explores the strength that develops through adversity; Ginny must learn to trust her inner compass as she navigates the world around her.

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Hardcover
$16.99

Kirkus

Starred Review
It’s hard to write with such simple authenticity: The world needs more stories like this.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

In the early 2010s, 11-year-old Ginny, an aspiring geoscientist, works to cope with a summer of change in her frequently moving Army family. She anticipates that their next move, from North Carolina to Maryland, will be difficult, but she's gutted when her ER doctor father--"the one person who really, truly gets me"--is immediately deployed to Afghanistan. Things get even worse when her much-anticipated geography camp is canceled and she's enrolled in a disastrous jewelry course instead; meanwhile, an already contentious relationship with her athletic 12-year-old sister Allie turns venomous as Allie seems to make friends with ease. Constantly taking in geography facts, doodling maps, and adulating oceanographic cartographer Marie Tharp, Ginny nevertheless grows more miserable, worrying about her father and fearing she'll never understand his parting advice that she follow her "true north." Through Ginny's experiences, Hickey (Heroes and Horses) portrays the full emotional cycle of deployment with accuracy and compassion. Immersive first-person chapters, which each open with a geography fact, accurately convey the comfort and the isolation that can accompany an intense special interest alongside Ginny's broadening recognition of the needs of the people around her. Occasional fine-lined b&w illustrations by Murphy depict pivotal scenes. Protagonists cue as white; the secondary cast is racially diverse. Ages 8-12. Author's agent: Alex Glass, Glass Literary Management. (June)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Ginny will charm you with her antics — and her facts — as she learns to both make and become a good friend.—Kristin Levine, author of The Lions of Little Rock
Caroline Hickey
Caroline Hickey learned her world capitals by playing Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego in the 80s. She has since lived in more places than Ginny, her favorite being London, England. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School in New York City and is the author of Cassie Was Here, Isabelle's Boyfriend, and many popular series books. She currently lives just outside Washington, DC with her husband, two daughters, and a labradoodle. Visit her at carolinehickey.com.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780316324625
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Christy Ottaviano Books-Little Brown and Hachette
Publication date
June 20, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV029000 - Juvenile Fiction | Nature & the Natural World | General
JUV013060 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Parents
JUV039140 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
JUV013070 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Siblings
Library of Congress categories
Friendship
Fathers and daughters
Geography
Interpersonal relations
Friendship in children
Study and teaching
Children of military personnel
Interpersonal relations in children
Anxiety
Families of military personnel
Siblings
Anxiety in children

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