Thirteen-year-old Dallas and his twin sister Florida are troubled orphans who have been foisted off, unsuccessfully, on a string of foster families and are now living in the Boxton Creek Home owned by Mr. and Mrs. Trepid. Florida has a mean mouth and has learned to trust no one. They've been beaten and locked in enough cellars to last a lifetime. Then the day comes when they are borrowed by Tiller and Sairy, an older couple who live in Ruby Holler and who want a last big adventure in their lives.
Imagine a family in which children can inadvertently chop down a tree out front only to be congratulated on improving the view. Dallas and Florida find themselves in just such a world and once they make themselves accept the wonder of it all, they do not want to lose this very special set of foster parents.
On a trip into town the children accidentally let slip to Mr. Trepid that Tiller and Sairy keep "understone money" on their property. Will this greedy man steal the money? Will the children ever get to go on their adventures?
A tale of love and acceptance. Divine. This book won the 2002 Carnegie Medal.
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
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From Sharon Creech, the Newbery Medal winning author of Walk Two Moons, comes a heartwarming adventure about finding family, and a home, when you least expect it.
Ruby Holler is a Carnegie Medal-winning novel, and with its quirky protagonists and exciting journey, captures the imaginations of readers of all ages.
Brother and sister Dallas and Florida are the “trouble twins.” In their short thirteen years, they’ve passed through countless foster homes, only to return to their dreary orphanage, Boxton Creek Home.
Run by the Trepids, a greedy and strict couple, Boxton Creek seems impossible to escape. When Mr. Trepid informs the twins that they’ll be helping old Tiller and Sairy Morey go on separate adventures, Dallas and Florida are suspicious.
As the twins adjust to the natural beauty of the outdoors, help the Tillers prepare for their adventures, and foil a robbery, their ultimate search for freedom leads them home to Ruby Holler- from the publisher
310 pages 978-0060560157 Ages 8-12
