Skip to main content

Ivy Takes Care

By


Ivy Takes Care
by Rosemary Wells, illustrated by Jim LaMarche
Candlewick, 2013.  199 pgs.  Fiction

     Ivy's best friend is leaving for Summer Camp and Ivy is afraid she will find friends she likes more back East. Deciding she needs to earn some money to buy Annie a birthstone friendship ring, she starts up her own business of caring for people's animals while they are away. Ivy's fears come true and Annie only writes once and never mentions the ring, but Ivy is making money and finding enormous satisfaction in caring for Chestnut, a pony, Andromeda, a former race horse, and helping to train a dog named Inca. Set in 1949, Ivy Takes Care recreates a simpler, quieter time in our history, especially in the Nevada countryside where Ivy's family works on a dude ranch. Ivy is a wonderful young girl, who comes to understand that she and her friend Annie will inevitably grow apart because Annie's family is rich and Ivy's is not.  But she has her own life to live as well, saving for college and veterinary school, and bailing out that troublemaker Billy Joe.  Fewer and fewer of  our great living children's authors feel the need to provide a safe and nourishing space for children in their books.  Rosemary Wells is one; Jeanne Birdsall another. Beverly Cleary, of course. Such books are harder and harder to come by, and should be treasured up as they arrive because who knows how long they still will.
Labels:

Comments

curlyq said…
This sounds like a wonderful book; just the sort of thing I loved to read growing up (and even now)! Thanks for the great review!
April 8, 2013 at 12:56 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Umami

By
  Umami By Jacob Grant New York: Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2024. Picture Book. Umami is a little penguin who is sick of eating the same thing everyday, cold fish --ugh! She becomes determined to find new foods and flavors, so Umami begins a journey across the sea in search of something different to eat. She reaches a place with a plethora of delicious options, and tries bitter, sweet, sour, and foods with umami (just like her name!) among others. Umami decides to bring all these delicious new flavors back for the other penguins to try in a feast. But, will the other penguins enjoy this new experience?  Filled with charm and humor, Umami is a diverse romp through a universal experience --am I willing to try something new? What will it be like? The idea of trying new foods and flavors make it especially relatable, and the appealing illustrations will have many readers ready to hop out on a culinary adventure. A humorous and sweet ending, caps off this delig...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Faker

By
Faker By Gordon Korman New York: Scholastic Press, 2024. Fiction. 214 pages. 12-year-old Trey is used to starting over at a new school -- he has the routine perfectly memorized: make new friends, introduce his dad to the wealthy parents of his new friends, and "Houdini" themselves out of there before they get caught running their latest scam. Trey's dad is a master con artist, and Trey has just been promoted to full-partner. Their new scheme for the next big score brings them to the affluent suburb of Boxelder, TN where Trey's dad has cooked up a fake electric car company for investors to buy into. The only problem is that Trey is starting to grow tired of moving around and never putting down roots, especially after forming a fast friendship with Logan and developing a crush on Kaylee, a socially conscious girl in his class. As Trey longs for a normal life, is there any way he can convince his dad to get out of the family business? Gordon Korman is a perennial favorit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Mythmakers

By
  The Mythmakers By John Hendrix New York: Abrams Fanfare, 2024. Informational. 217 pages.  Before C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien had ever published world-renowned literature, they were friends. This book starts with the boyhood of each author, discussing how each lost their parents and the toll that took on them. It moves on to talk about the experience of each man in the trenches of World War I, and their eventual meeting at Oxford. It further chronicles their "fellowship" through the writing of many of their notable works, as well as their eventual falling out.  This book is an interesting mix of comic and narrative nonfiction, flipping back and forth between chapters. A lion and wizard appear in the comic portions (in a nod to Aslan and Gandalf) to explain background information about mythology, the time period, and other pertinent information about the two. The author makes use of a limited color palette, using mostly greens, purples, and yellows, to draw the reader i...
Post a Comment
Read more