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Nancy Keane's | Booktalks -- Quick and Simple | |
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Nannestad, Katrina. |
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Wedged
between a goat who nibbles at her braid and a cage full
of pecking geese, ten-year-old Inge Maria Jensen is
traveling by boat from Copenhagen to the Danish island
of Bornholm. It’s 1911. Her mother has died, and she is
headed to live with a grandmother she has never met.
When Inge arrives, the island is not at all like the
bustling city she grew up in, and her stern grandmother
seems nothing like her lively, loving mother. Life is
quiet, filled with chores and boring visits with grumpy
old neighbors. Even worse is her new school, where
there’s no fun to be had, not even in music or at
recess. She seeks solace in her beloved book of Hans
Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. But even in her grief,
Inge Maria is curious about her new surroundings and
isn’t able to contain her inner joy and zest for life,
which sometimes causes her trouble. How was she to know
she shouldn’t feed her grandmother’s pig prunes? And how
could she stop herself from leaving her seat and hopping
like a bunny when she was carried away by the song in
music class? Perhaps Inge is just what the island
of Bornholm needs. Filled with humor, love, and
acceptance, this gem of a book begs to be read aloud,
and the spunky character of Inge is one all readers will
long remember. (Booktalk
by Great
Stone Face Award Committee, 2017) |
| SUBJECTS: Behavior --
Fiction. Bornholm (Denmark) -- History -- 20th century -- Fiction. Denmark -- History -- 20th century -- Fiction. Grandmothers -- Fiction. Grief -- Fiction. Orphans -- Fiction. |
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