Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Newberg Public Library | J FICTION MCKAY | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Love is in the air for the Casson family! Four hilarious, endearing tales unfold as Rose, Indigo, Saffy, and Caddy each tell their intertwining stories. Rose begins by showing how she does special with her Valentine's card for Tom in New York. Not to be outdone, Indigo has his own surprise in store for the Valentine,s Day disco at school. For her part, Saffy has an unusual date in a very, very dark graveyard, and is haunted by a balloon that almost costs her her best friend.
But it is Caddy who dares everything -- as she tells all about love at first sight when you have found the Real Thing. Unfortunately the Real Thing is not darling Michael. What is Rose going to do?
Author Notes
Hilary McKay is the award-winning author of The Time of Green Magic (which received five starred reviews), The Skylarks' War (which was a Boston Globe Best Book, and received three starred reviews), Binny Bewitched (which was a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year and received two starred reviews), Binny in Secret (which received three starred reviews), Binny for Short (which received four starred reviews), and six novels about the Casson family: Saffy's Angel , Indigo's Star , Permanent Rose , Caddy Ever After , Forever Rose , and Caddy's World . She is also the author of Wishing for Tomorrow , the sequel to Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess , and The Swallows' Flight . Hilary lives with her family in Derbyshire, England. Visit her at HilaryMcKay.co.uk.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-In this fourth installment featuring the Casson family, McKay's strong points shine through. Though it takes much of the book to get there, the climactic event is the (attempted) marriage of oldest sister, Caddy, to someone other than Darling Michael. The youngest sibling, Rose, has promised Michael not to let his true love marry anyone else in his absence. Luckily, Rose's teacher has informed her that there is a point in the ceremony where the "umpire" says: "Anyone got any problems before I go ahead?" McKay's brilliance is in her characterization. As the narrative viewpoint shifts, each character is unique, charming, and entirely likable. The depth of the story is conveyed in the dynamic of this family that is at times both touching and hilarious. Beautifully crafted descriptive language makes this offering a real gem. It does not stand alone, however, as previous knowledge of the characters and the story line is required.-Rebecca Stine, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
The four engaging Casson offspring in turn contribute their voices to this enchanting follow-up to Saffy's Angel, Indigo's Star and Permanent Rose. Because of its episodic format, the book is perhaps best suited to fans of the series. Outspoken Rose, prone to diverting digressions, muses on the fate of her escaped hamsters, shares her best friend's outrageous tall tales, and describes her brave journey to the backyard shed one stormy night. Earnest Indigo describes Rose's mass-production of Valentine cards and quotes Saffy's derisive comment that Valentines can't be special "if you send them off in dozens," to which Rose responds, "This is how I do special." When Indigo salvages the near-doomed Valentine's Day dance, he wryly notes, "This is how I do special." Down-to-earth Saffy introduces her entertainingly eccentric beau, Oscar, who takes Saffy and Rose for a ride in his Internet-purchased car, which resembles "an ancient, unhappy, giant toad." When they run out of gas, Oscar's older brother Alex rescues them. Enter flighty Caddy who, immediately smitten by Alex, decides that he "is probably the Real Thing at last." In many ways the soul of the Cassons, Rose fittingly gets the last word. In McKay's hands, even the things that the Cassons might deem wrong with their lives make for a narrative that is just right. Here, as in the past, the author "does special" quite splendidly. Ages 10-14. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate, Middle School) In a trio of books about the vibrant Casson family (Caddy, Saffron, Indigo, Rose, and associated parents and friends), McKay has set the standard of brilliance for the middle-grade mayhem novel. This fourth chronicle nominally focuses on eldest sister Caddy (this time she makes it to the altar, but, reader, she does not marry him), but orbiting around the central plot are such delicious treats as the urban legend obsession of Rose's best friend Kiran; Indigo's solution to the challenge of a disco-dance date in a wheelchair; Saffron being stalked by a demonic helium balloon; and the usual McKay tapestry of accidents, plagues, fires, lost objects, love, rage, and misunderstandings. Background from the previous stories is neatly woven in, and we even get some new and surprising perspectives on incidents that we've already heard about. The mosaic technique of multiple first-person narrators invites us to construct our own cohesive narrative, which might be a stretch for readers who like a secure linear story. Mostly, though, we are delighted to muck in because we are so fond of this fresh, funny, foolish, wise, real family. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Lovers of McKay's other offerings about the irrepressibly wacky and loving Casson family won't be disappointed by this latest installment. Each paint-named sibling gets to have a voice in alternating chapters filled with endearing, self-revelatory musings laced with warmth, humor and adventures only they could have. Readers who may have found the other Casson tomes a trifle arch will be satisfied as well: McKay downplays coy and plays up charm and fun. While the self-named chapters reveal a great deal about the individual "authors," they also ring true about the other siblings, their parents, friends and neighbors. Events leading up to a wedding are always fraught with peril; they are here, too, but also with mischief and laughter. Caddy, the would-be bride, makes a late appearance, but by then, unbeknownst to her, her fate has been pretty well sealed in an extremely satisfying and comical ending. (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 6-9. McKay's fourth novel about the Casson family begins with every child's nightmare: while listening to a ghost story at school, nine-year-old Rose wets herself. Once again, McKay creates a sly, jovial portrait of an English family that pitches toward minor disasters only to be rescued by its own loving, eccentric members. Narrated in the voices of the three youngest Cassons (Rose, Indigo, and Saffron), whose passages sometimes employ lists and appendixes, the novel is more fragmented than its predecessors, and readers meeting the Cassons for the first time may wish for more background. Despite that, the crowd of voices echoes a large family, with each person trying to be heard, and the dramas, from older sister Caddy's engagement to Rose's thrilling discovery of a flying feeling, are as wild and endearing as ever. Readers will also delight in the precise, human details, narrated by children who miss nothing: Tired people cannot learn, says Rose's teacher as she dumps a handful of markers into her full coffee cup. Another charmer for Casson fans. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2006 Booklist