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Title details for Gingersnap by Patricia Reilly Giff - Available

Gingersnap

by Patricia Reilly Giff
Olivia Campbell
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
It's 1944, W.W. II is raging. Jayna's big brother Rob is her only family. When Rob is called to duty on a destroyer, Jayna is left in their small town in upstate New York with their cranky landlady. But right before he leaves, Rob tells Jayna a secret: they may have a grandmother in Brooklyn. Rob found a little blue recipe book with her name and an address for a bakery. When Jayna learns that Rob is missing in action, she's devastated. Along with her turtle Theresa, the recipe book, and an encouraging, ghostly voice as her guide, Jayna sets out for Brooklyn in hopes of finding the family she so desperately needs.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 8, 2013

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780385361347
      • File size: 96606 KB
      • Duration: 03:21:15

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 540
    • Text Difficulty: 2-3

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      With her older brother and only family member, Rob, missing in action in the Pacific theatre of WWII, Jayna, aka Gingersnap, leaves her guardian and heads to Brooklyn with her pet turtle and a bakery address in hand. She's been told she may have a grandmother there. Olivia Campbell's narration enriches the character of Jayna. Her tender, raw voice mirrors Jayna's uncertainties and desperation. Campbell's voice weakens and trails off at just the moments when Jayna feels most vulnerable. And as Jayna lets herself take in the welcoming bakery "family," Campbell picks up the pace, and her voice gains conviction. As guardian Celine, Campbell's quavering voice creates a remarkably unsuitable parent surrogate. Bakery owner Elise's voice is filled with uncertainty and skepticism, followed by growing warmth. A.R. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 19, 2012
      Giff smoothly intertwines threads of loss, displacement, hope, family, and the soothing power of food (especially soup) in a quiet but emotionally charged novel set during WWII. Jayna—nicknamed Gingersnap by her mother, who died in a car accident along with the girl’s father—feels understandably alone after her only relative, her older brother Rob, goes missing while serving in the Navy. Inspired by items from her mother’s past that she finds, and urged on by the voice of a ghost, Jayna packs up the turtle she’s adopted and runs away from upstate New York to Brooklyn. The ghost (who Jayna believes to be her mother) promises to help her find a family, and Giff’s deft plotting leads the girl to find just that, in surprising and satisfying ways. The pacing falters occasionally—it takes Jayna a while to share information that she knows links her to the kindly bakery owner who takes her in—but Jayna’s yearning to belong and desperate longing for her brother’s safe return give this story its soulful core. Ages 9–12. Agent: George Nicholson, Sterling Lord Literistic.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:540
  • Text Difficulty:2-3

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