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Summary
Summary
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Author Notes
Sharon Creech was on born July 29, 1945 in South Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. She was in college when she took literature and writing courses and became intrigued by story-telling. Later, she was a teacher (high school English and writing) in England and in Switzerland.
Her novel Walk Two Moons received in 1995 Newbery Medal; The Wanderer was a 2001 Newbery Honor book and Ruby Holler received the 2002 Carnegie Medal. In 2007, Heartbeat was a finalist in the Junior Division (4th to 6th grades) of the Young Reader's Choice Awards, sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Library Association. She has written over 15 fiction novels for young readers.
She is married to Lyle Rigg, who is the headmaster of The Pennington School in Pennington, New Jersey, and have two grown children, Rob and Karin.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
"Written with the kind of warmth, understanding and economical prose that has characterized Creech's previous novels, this story features a middle child growing up in a large, boisterous Italian family," wrote PW. Ages 8-12. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) Second to youngest in a rambunctious Italian-American family, twelve-year-old Leo spends much of his time in a private fantasy world. His family calls him ""fog boy"" and ""sardine,"" but in his dreams Leo plays a starring role where his talents are always recognized. When he discovers a journal his father wrote at roughly his age, he stumbles on a family secret and begins to understand that the adults -- mother, father, grandparents, and aunts -- have interior lives and past experiences. Leo also gets a small role in a school play, the production of which weaves through the story as each actor must consider what his or her character was like when young. Loss is one of the book's themes: loss through premature death, loss through separation, and loss of confidence after dislocating events such as his father's heart attack three years before. Though the subjects are serious, they are played out with humor. Creech prefaces the book with a much-needed cast of characters and closes it with the text of Leo's school play; many of the (very short) chapters include a few lines written out as dialogue, emphasizing the book's theatrical nature. It's all a little choppy, but Leo and his family are vividly drawn, and the multiple stories draw together at the end. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 4-7. Both uproarious and tender, this story of Leo, 12, captures his big, noisy, extended Italian family with pitch-perfect dialogue that will sweep readers right to the end of the story. Creech's short yet layered chapters are filled with parallels to think about (including an awkward contrivance when Leo stumbles on his dad's journal, written when Dad was Leo's age) but nothing slows down the action. Leo has wild, private fantasies of himself as a hero and a genius. Meanwhile, he is thrilled to act in the school play, even if his role is the Old Crone, and great scenes capture the joy and the awful mess-ups of rehearsals and the final performance (the short play appears as an optional read at the end of the book). The compelling drama is the family story, some of it told as a play--the farce of fights, grudges, and putdowns in Leo's crowded home and across generations, and also the anguish of family secrets. Who is the Rosaria Dad writes about in his journal? Why is Dad sad and angry? What changed him during the last few years? There are no easy resolutions, only haunting questions about growing up. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2005 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-8-Meet Leonardo. His family calls him "sardine," as he often feels smashed between Contento, his moody older sister, and his two younger brothers, Pietro and Nunzio. His life is filled with possibilities; he's a dreamer (which gains him the additional nickname of "fog boy"). But two events converge in unexpected ways, leading to new understanding, growth, and insight. Leo finds a journal written by his father at age 13 and is chosen for a part in a play written by the drama teacher entitled "Rumpopo's Porch." To his dismay, he is given the role of the Old Crone and the journal presents a person whom Leo doesn't know. Gradually, however, the Old Crone comes to appreciate Rumpopo just as Leo begins to see glimmers of the 13-year-old boy who matured into his now-frazzled father. Life, like plays and replays, has a cyclical nature. A rift in Leo's large, noisy, and completely realistic family begins to heal after a near disaster when Nunzio is injured, just as a hole created by loss can heal. Leo's fantasies intertwine with actual events, adding humor and insight. Characters are brilliantly delineated by their actions, reports of Leo's observations, and short dialogues presented in both conversations and in screenplay form. As Leo matures, nuggets of wisdom emerge from the simple text in this beautifully crafted novel. The script of "Rumpopo's Porch" is included to further clarify parallels. For in the end, "all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players."-Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at Washington DC Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Replay Chapter One Boy Wonder From his perch in the maple tree, Leo hears a cry of distress, a high-pitched yelping. He scans the neighborhood, and there, midway down the block, he sees the old woman lying on the sidewalk. Leo leaps from the tree and races down the street. "Call the rescue squad!" he orders a neighbor peering from her window. Leo reaches the old woman, takes her pulse. It's weak, fading. "Stand back," he tells the gathering neighbors as he works at reviving the woman. The woman's eyelids flutter. By the time the wail of the rescue squad car is heard, she is breathing normally, color returning to her cheeks. "You saved her life," the rescue crew tells Leo. "You saved her life!" "Hey, sardine! Fog boy! What the heck are you doing? Mom is looking all over for you." Leo blinks and looks around. "Did you hear me, sardine? You're going to be in big trouble--" Leo turns. Trouble? Maybe someone needs him. He dashes for home. Maybe he will get there just in time. Replay . Copyright © by Sharon Creech. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Replay by Sharon Creech All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.