Ferris
by Kate DiCamillo (Author)
The beloved author of Because of Winn-Dixie has outdone herself with a hilarious and achingly real love story about a girl, a ghost, a grandmother, and growing up.
It's the summer before fifth grade, and for Ferris Wilkey, it is a summer of sheer pandemonium: Her little sister, Pinky, has vowed to become an outlaw. Uncle Ted has left Aunt Shirley and, to Ferris's mother's chagrin, is holed up in the Wilkey basement to paint a history of the world. And Charisse, Ferris's grandmother, has started seeing a ghost at the threshold of her room, which seems like an alarming omen given that she is also feeling unwell. But the ghost is not there to usher Charisse to the Great Beyond. Rather, she has other plans--wild, impractical, illuminating plans.
How can Ferris satisfy a specter with Pinky terrorizing the town, Uncle Ted sending Ferris to spy on her aunt, and her father battling an invasion of raccoons? As Charisse likes to say, "Every good story is a love story," and Kate DiCamillo has written one for the ages: emotionally resonant and healing, showing the two-time Newbery Medalist at her most playful, universal, and profound.
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The summer before fifth grade turns out to be a "serious time, in general" for 10-year-old Emma Phineas Wilkey--known as Ferris because of her dramatic birth under a Ferris wheel--as she aids in her idiosyncratic family members' antics and deals with the unfamiliar emotional terrain that accompanies these encounters. Ferris's headstrong younger sister, an aspiring felon, is scheming to appear on a "Wanted" poster; Uncle Ted, who is attempting to paint a history of the world while living in Ferris's basement, recruits Ferris to spy on his estranged wife; and Ferris's beloved, hopeless romantic grandmother's heart is failing. But her grandmother is more troubled by the appearance of a ghost that only she can see, so she enlists Ferris's help in satisfying the specter's quixotic request. Together with her soft-spoken, piano-playing best friend Billy Jackson, Ferris navigates her joyfully chaotic environment and heeds her grandmother's wisdom: "Every good story is a love story." Populated by offbeat, compelling characters with rich histories, this bustling and empathetic tale by DiCamillo (The Puppets of Spelhorst) ponders the courage it takes to love someone and the necessity of inconvenience in life through the eyes of one emotionally curious tween. Main characters read as white. Ages 8-12. Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. (Mar.)
Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Terrifically zany, it certainly is, but it's also wonderfully grounded in deep familial bonds, a tight-knit community, and the beautiful idea that every relationship is a love story in its own way. The kindly town and its eccentric inhabitants come to life via comical anecdotes and gorgeous descriptions, and it all sets the stage for some truly transcendent moments that will leave readers in a state of wonder, no matter their age. It's a spectacularly silly and perfectly sincere exploration of what it means to stay tenderhearted in a sometimes challenging world. . . It's a DiCamillo! That alone should get patrons lining up for this one.
—Booklist (starred review) Populated by offbeat, compelling characters with rich histories, this bustling and empathetic tale by DiCamillo (The Puppets of Spelhorst) ponders the courage it takes to love someone and the necessity of inconvenience in life through the eyes of one emotionally curious tween.
—Publishers Weekly The limited third-person narration glimpses other lives but never dwells on them, thus leaving Ferris's honest, preadolescent perspective to drive the story line. As Clarisse tells Ferris, "Every good story is a love story." Here, DiCamillo adeptly proves this axiom.
—The Horn Book
JUV013030 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Multigenerational
JUV069000 - Juvenile Fiction | Ghost Stories
Death
Grandmothers
Families
Ghosts
Ghost stories
Love
Teenage girls
Animal behavior
Middle school students
Siblings
Paranormal fiction.\2lcgft
