| Booktalk
#1
The boys at Lovell House Orphanage
can't believe their eyes when young Gibson Whitaker comes walking back
into their lives. After all, it's been well over a year since he left and
the rules say no one can ever come back. When townsfolk took orphans, they
had to agree to keep them until they turned 18. The only other boy who
had come back was Georgie and he had run away from Mr. Bean after being
mistreated. No one knows what happened to Georgie after he returned though.
This is the story of what happened to Gib while he was away and why he
came back. To find out what happened to him, read GIB RIDES HOME.
Booktalk #2
Gib doesn't have many memories
about his life before he came to the Lovell House Home for Orphaned and
Abandoned Boys. He was only about six years old when his Mama died
but he still remembers bits and pieces of her. The clearest memory
was about the old man and the horse.
Gibson Whitaker makes the best
of his life at the Lovell Home. He especially enjoys taking care
of the Home's two horses. He isn't afraid of them the way the other
boys seem to be. He also hopes to be adopted by a real family some
day, but the older he gets, the gloomier the prospect. Rumors pass
among the boys of how the older ones are "farmed out" to people as cheap
labor. The rumors become fact the night Gib finds Georgie hiding
in the horse barn. After being cruelly abused, Georgie had run away
from the farmer who had "adopted" him. Before Gib can find out more
from Georgie, he finds himself "adopted". Will Gib suffer the same
treatment at the hands of Mr. Thornton, the wealthy banker he is farmed
out to? Read GIB RIDES HOME by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. (New
Hampshire Great Stone Face Committee) |
