Welcome Home or Someplace Like It

Publishers Weekly

Spunky and observant, 13-year-old Aggie B. Wing narrates picture book author/artist Agell's (I Swam with a Seal) perky debut novel, presented in the form of "Notebook #27," Aggie's illustrated journal. Aggie and her 16-year-old brother, Thorne, have just met their nonagenarian grandfather when their romance-novelist mother decides to leave them at his house in small-town Maine, so she can research her latest work in Niagara Falls. (Mom goes off so often that Aggie speculates anxiously, "Maybe I give her writer's block or something, and that's why she always has to leave.") Aggie and Thorne slowly warm up to the quirky townspeople, and to their 91-year-old grandfather, who does jigsaw puzzles by night, sleeps in the day and, occasionally, takes prophetic telephone calls from his foot. As summer lazily unfolds, Aggie makes a friend who is an avid naturalist, discovers that her mother had a twin brother who died at 17, teaches her grandfather to swim and then has to rescue him, and more. The biggest news is a "miracle" that occurs at the local church where Thorne works; for Aggie, feeling like she finally has a home is miracle enough. This novel may suffer from the comparisons it inevitably invites with Polly Horvath's The Canning Season, which shares much the same premise, but Aggie's lively voice and agile commentary will keep readers engaged. Ages 9-15. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

KLIATT

This is Agell's first novel. She is a language arts teacher in a middle school and also an artist in residence. She lives in Maine, where this wonderfully quirky story (complete with frequent drawings by the narrator, Aggie) takes place. Aggie (age 13) and Thorne, her older brother (age 16), are unceremoniously dropped off in a small town in Maine where their grandfather lives. Their mother, a romance novel writer, "needs" to go to Niagara Falls for some research. Aggie and Thorne have lived hither and yon with their single mother over the years and really don't know what a home could be. This summer they find a home (or someplace like it). Aggie teaches her 91-year-old grandfather to swim, she makes friends with a girl named Mad (Madeleine) who teaches her about boats, she finds out she loves chickens; no, not to eat, but to take care of; and she witnesses something strange at the local church where her brother works as a caretaker; could it be a miracle? She also describes the itinerant minister, a woman who rides periodically into town on her motorcycle to hold church services. Aggie's life is amusing because she is a wry observer of people around her, describing them and drawing them in her journal (this book). Her grandfather is a marvelous character, a retired sea captain who is nowhere near retirement from life. In the weeks she lives in the town where her mother grew up, Aggie understands a bit more about her mother's restlessness, especially when Aggie finds out about the death of her mother's twin brother when he was 17. Small town America never looked so good as when Agell (as Aggie) writes about it. Perhaps it helps that the town is located on the water, with coves andislands; as Thorne says from the back seat when they drive up, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." KLIATT Codes: J*; Exceptional book, recommended for junior high school students. 2003, Henry Holt, 230p. illus.,
— Claire Rosser

VOYA

Thirteen-year-old Aggie Wing and her fifteen-year-old brother, Thorne, are dropped off in Ludwig, Maine, by their romance-writer mother to stay the summer with their elderly grandfather. Aggie documents her life in notebooks that include illustrations. This novel comprises her notebook #27. Because her family relocates often, the notebooks are Aggie's way of remembering her past. This time, living in the middle of nowhere, Aggie tries to make the best of it by finding a new friend, exploring the town and a nearby island, building a chicken coop and attempting to keep chickens, and teaching her ninety-one-year-old grandfather to swim. Thorne has a more difficult time adjusting. The town and its residents are a bit eccentric; Aggie's own grandfather takes telephone calls through his left foot, angling it toward his ear to talk into it. Evident throughout is Aggie's worry about being abandoned by her mother, as the summer days stretch from June into August. A child's helplessness in the face of a parent's decision to pick up and move comes across, as does her feeling of wanting a more permanent home, and she might just have found a good match in Ludwig. By using a journal format to tell Aggie's story, Agell makes the reader aware of Aggie's emotions and fears, her coping, and her wishes, all to which anyone can relate. VOYA Codes: 3Q 3P M J (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2003, Henry Holt, 240p,
— Jane Van Wiemokly

School Library Journal

Gr 6-8-Aggie Wing's father left home for a can of Campbell's Tomato Rice soup and never returned. Ever since, the 13-year-old and her older brother, Thorne, have lived in countless places with their vagabond, romance-writer mother. This evocative, insightful novel takes the form of notebook #27, the girl's record of the summer the family drives to her 91-year-old grandfather's house in Ludwig, ME, population 159. The teens arrive with few expectations, but it doesn't take long for Aggie to lay roots in her mother's childhood home. It takes even less time for her mom to take off to Niagara Falls to research her new book. Though more than a bit eccentric-the old man claims to get phone calls from his left foot-he seems to sense what his grandchildren need. As the season passes, Aggie smells mudflats, swims in the icy coastal waters, makes a friend, and teaches Grandpa to swim. Thorne gets a job as church caretaker. The girl is stunned to discover that her mother had a twin who died when he was 17, after which she ran away. Just when a comedy of errors has the town believing in miracles, a true miracle occurs: Meredith Bellicose comes home, and it looks as though Ludwig's new population is 162. The notebook is peppered with humorous, annotated portraits, sketches, and diagrams. This novel has strong and winning characters; excellent pacing; and a lazy, nostalgic setting.-Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Salt spray gently infuses this tale of one girl's discovery of home. "Me, I don't plan much," says 13-year-old Aggie, aspiring artist. "I'm just along for the ride." But the ride stops in Ludwig, Maine (pop. 159), when her romance-writer mother leaves Aggie and her older brother Thorne with the 91-year-old grandfather they've never met and hares off to Niagara Falls to research a book. While Thorne copes by locking himself in his room, Aggie finds herself tentatively embracing her new setting, as she makes friends with budding botanist Mad, learns to row, tends a flock of chickens, and develops a taste for Moxie. Agell peoples her story with quietly quirky characters allowed the freedom to develop, but who never get out of control, from Grandpa, who takes telephone calls on his foot, to the Harley-riding Reverend Evelyn. She creates in Aggie a wry observer whose narration is punctuated by the Zen sayings of her totem, a clay Chinese fisherman named Old Henry, and augmented by her sketches to make an altogether fresh and pleasing package. (Fiction. 10-13)