| Booktalk
#1
Have you ever met a family
where kids' names could make up a rainbow? Well, you're about to.
Bill and Eve Casson, both artists, are the parents of Caddy (for Cadmium,
the eldest), Saffy (for Saffron), Indigo (a boy) and Rose. Their
lives are as colorful as their names and as creative as their parents.
For example, Caddy's years of driving lessons with an instructor who invents
a girlfriend to keep Caddy at a distance; Indigo's bedroom window sill
sessions as an aspiring polar explorer hoping to cure his vertigo; Rose's
exotic artwork with the contents of the refrigerator; and Saffy's unusual
friendship with Sarah, a girl in a wheelchair. One day, Saffy accidentally
discovers that she is adopted. She actually is the daughter of Eve's
twin sister, who died in a car crash in Sienna, Italy when Saffy was three
years old. Grandfather brought Saffy from Italy to the Cassons in
Great Britain, where they adopted her. Grandfather dies and leaves
something for each of the children. Caddy receives his dilapidated
cottage on a cliff in Wales. Indigo gets his aged Bentley automobile
(in unusable condition), and Rose gets his remaining cash of 44 pounds.
Attached to the back of the Will by a rusty pin is a note written in scrawly
black. It read, "For Saffron, her angel in the garden." Thus
begins Saffy's quest for her angel. In a hilarious, joyful, and sometimes
painful quest, she discovers treasures about herself and treasures about
the love of family. (New
Hampshire Great Stone Face Committee)
Booktalk #2
Saffy searched the color wheel
in the kitchen for her name. It must be there. After all, all
the children were named for a color on the wheel. That's part of
being born in a household of artists, I guess. But, Saffron was not
listed on the wheel. When she asked her mother, she got an evasive
answer. But little by little, the story came out. Saffron was
adopted! She just didn't remember. Her mother was the twin
sister of Eve who had raised her. Things changed for Saffy after
that. She no longer felt part of the family. She knew that
she was different. Maybe she just didn't belong. The only thing
she had that hadn't changed was her grandfather. He was still her
grandfather even though he had been quite out of it for some time.
When he dies, he leaves a will. In it, he leaves Saffy her stone
angel. Not knowing what that was, Saffy and her friend Sarah go on
a journey to find Saffy's angel. There are many humorous moments
in this story as Saffy's eccentric family go through their days.
(Read p. 18+ about Caddy's driving lesson) |
