Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Monmouth Public Library | J Fic McKay, H. 2012 | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | McKay, H. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
The amazing and hilarious Casson family is back in this all-new novel from award-winning author Hilary McKay.
Cadmium Casson is twelve years old the summer that everything changes. Not only are her closest friendships in jeopardy, but her mom is expecting a baby. And when the baby arrives early, Caddy's world turns upside down. Her mother spends all her time at the hospital, and her father takes over the household, which of course turns into one chaotic (though hilarious) crisis after the next.
When her charmingly dense boyfriend dumps her, Caddy is at her wits' end. Then she discovers that the fragile baby she is so afraid of losing is not an ending, but a beginning for her whole family. And that love and friendship don't need to be destroyed by change--they can be strengthened. Another refreshingly wise, funny, and poignant novel from the inimitable Hilary McKay.
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 The Swallows' Flight , Rosa by Starlight , and Wishing for Tomorrow , the sequel to Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess . Hilary lives with her family in Derbyshire, England. Visit her at HilaryMcKay.co.uk.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-The Cassons are back. Huzzah! McKay's previous five titles about this quirky British family seemed to have told the whole story, but this title is a prequel that introduces the family at a time when the eldest, Caddy, is 12, and youngest, Rose, is just arriving. As always, the humor is abundantly evident with several laugh-out-loud scenes. However, Caddy's woes and those of her three best friends are taken seriously. Dieting, moving, changing schools, a new baby, and boyfriends all figure into the girls' experiences, even as McKay gives each one a distinctly personal perspective. These are not grown-ups in children's bodies, but youngsters dealing with their concerns in ways that seem logical to them given their experience in the world. It's delightful, touching, and absolutely delicious to see these beloved characters at an earlier stage, and fans of the series will be satisfied and pleased with this return. To newcomers, it is a chance to see the family at that critical moment when Rose is born prematurely and how the stress affects each family member differently, foreshadowing the events to come in the earlier books, which take up the story and move it into the future. Charming and thoughtful, as well as funny and touching, this is another delightful time with the Cassons and their friends, all of whom are well worth knowing.-Carol A. Edwards, Denver Public Library, CO (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
McKay's Forever Rose (2008) was supposed to be her final novel about the Cassons, but in this sixth outing the family sparkles as brightly as ever. The author rolls back time, focusing on oldest sibling Caddy as a 12-year-old whose life is in typical Casson disarray. Caddy's mother is in the hospital after prematurely giving birth to Rose, and Caddy's younger siblings, Indigo and Saffy, are up to their usual well-intentioned hijinks, derailing their often-absent father's attempts to introduce order and nutrition into the chaotic household. Caddy's social life is also in turmoil, with each of her best friends in a state of flux-one is resisting a scholarship to a private school, one develops an eating disorder, one is moving to Tasmania-and Caddy reaches out to each with affecting results. McKay also throws a wild card into the mix: Dingbat, a rakish classmate who tries to woo all four friends simultaneously. With effervescent characters and dialogue, this welcome addition to the Casson saga again strikes a lovely balance between humor and poignancy. Ages 10-up. Agent: Jennifer Luithlen Agency. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Hilary McKay is a master juggler. Here she starts with four middle-school girls, in a friendship so tight they seem to blur together: "AlisonRubyanBethanme." "Me" is Cadmium Casson (eldest of the Casson children, and first introduced in Saffy's Angel, rev. 7/02), and the members of her chaotic, loving, anxious, hilarious, iconoclastic family are quickly added to the balls McKay juggles in the air. Readers new to the Casson family series will be immediately pulled in by the tension of a new baby in the family, a delicate preemie who hovers between life and death. Returning readers will realize, oh happiness, that this is a prequel, a visit to the time when Rose was born and Caddy was twelve, in one of the rare periods when Bill Casson was an on-site dad. McKay then adds an eating disorder, a first boyfriend, a near-death experience, and a pony, all handled with her characteristic vertiginous point-of-view changes and running jokes. In this, book six in the series, McKay proves Tolstoy wrong. Not all happy families are alike. sarah ellis (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The stories about the Casson family get a prequel, and Caddy, a much older sister in the previous books, steps into center stage. Here, Caddy is 12, Saffy and brother Indigo are six and five, and Rose is barely born. Barely, indeed: she is five months premature, and Eve, the children's scattered mother, must stay with her in the hospital, which necessitates father, Bill, returning from his life in London to parent the brood. The confusing parental arrangement may go over the heads of some readers, but they will be enthralled by the friendship Caddy shares with longtime mates, Ruby, the clever one; Beth, the perfectionist; and Alison, who hates everybody. Caddy is the bravest of the brave, but it is not until she must prove this in a most dramatic way that she believes it herself. In many ways, this is a story about belief. Caddy doubts that the baby will live and is unwilling to take a chance on the future, especially when it means giving up the secure friendships of the past. McKay's writing is like the Cassons themselves: unpredictable, touchingly human, and alternatingly mad, funny, and tender. New readers will be thrilled to find there are more Casson family upheavals ahead, and old fans will be delighted to learn how it all began.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist