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One Year in Coal Harbor

3.77 of 5 stars 3.77 · rating details · 252 ratings · 88 reviews

Readers rejoice—Primrose Squarp is back! The wise and curious heroine of the Newbery Honor Book Everything on a Waffle is facing another adventure-filled year in Coal Harbor. Even though her parents, once lost at sea, are home, there's a whole slew of problems and mysteries to keep Primrose—and eager fans—busy. There's Uncle Jack and Kate Bowzer, who may (or may not) be in...more

Hardcover, 224 pages

Published September 11th 2012 by Schwartz & Wade (first published August 8th 2012)

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The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis

Newbery 2013

64th out of 95 books — 697 voters

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Grade 6/7 Booktalk: Mysteries

16th out of 30 books — 1 voter

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Jan 06, 2013 Phoebe rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Deborah, Heidi

Shelves: contemporary, canada, juv, realistic-fiction

This astounding book is narrated by the even more astounding Primrose Squarp, whose experiences as a foster child during the year her parents were lost at sea were detailed in the earlier Everything on a Waffle. Primrose is determined to marry her Uncle Jack off to the prickly owner of the Girl on a Red Swing restaurant, Ms. Bowzer; she befriends Ked, the new, very quiet foster son of Bert and Evie; and she wants to publish a book of recipes to support the Fishermen's Aid fund. But nothing seems...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Emmet O'Neal Library- Children's Department rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, realistic-fiction

Has anyone else missed hanging out with Primrose Squarp since you closed the covers of Everything on a Waffle?

Don’t worry – she’s back with a new set of adventures and insights in this sequel. When we left Primrose, she had gotten her parents back, her temporary foster parents Bert and Evie had moved to Coal Harbor, and she was looking forward to her Uncle Jack getting together with Miss Bowzer, proprietess of The Girl on the Red Swing (where everything is served on a waffle…remember?).

But now,...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Meredith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mock-newbery

I am always buying copies of "Everything on a Waffle" when I see it, and giving it to people, but I couldn't clearly remember why I loved it so much. Then I read the first page of "One Year in Coal Harbor" and it all came flooding back.

Delightful.

Loved it.

I read the entire thing in one sitting while waiting for my car to be fixed, and the dealership employees got to watch me laugh, grin, shake my head, and, finally, cry.

THIS is Polly Horvath! (I was so disappointed in the bunnies last year.) The...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Brenda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Last year after I finally got around to reading Everything With a Waffle I decided to add Polly Horvath to my “favorite authors” list. Her writing has strong characters deeply connected to place and I like that. I loved Primrose Squarp – spunky, independent, creative and resilient. (Love the guinea pig scene – both at The Girl on the Red Swing and in the school guidance counselor’s office. It’s still making me snicker.) I was glad that things worked out happily for her, but I was sad to leave he...more Last year after I finally got around to reading Everything With a Waffle I decided to add Polly Horvath to my “favorite authors” list. Her writing has strong characters deeply connected to place and I like that. I loved Primrose Squarp – spunky, independent, creative and resilient. (Love the guinea pig scene – both at The Girl on the Red Swing and in the school guidance counselor’s office. It’s still making me snicker.) I was glad that things worked out happily for her, but I was sad to leave her behind. So you can only imagine how happy I was to learn Polly Horvath had written One Year in Coal Harbor – more time with Primrose, Uncle Jack, Miss Bowser and Bert and Evie.

Primrose is at home with her mom and dad and thankful for everything she has. She is trying to think of how she can help Miss Bowser and Uncle Jack spend more time together now that Miss Honeycut is gone. She’s busy with Mallomar and collecting recipes, though what she’d really like is a good friend her age. Primrose learned that people treat you differently when you’re in foster care. It’s as if they think it was your fault or that you have something that might rub off on them if they got too close. Primrose would hang out with Eleanor, but she wasn’t really much of a friend. They were together because neither of them had anyone else, not because it was fun. Then Ked came along. He was foster kid staying with Evie and Bert in Coal Harbor for a while. He and Primrose get along right from the start. Ked is interested in the peaceful quiet of Jackson Road. He’s a kind gentle soul, who seems to know what to do to make others feel appreciated. For instance, he’d never tell Evie he doesn’t really like mini-marshmallows, nor would he ignore the seer though he is unkempt and unusual.

Just as Ked arrives so does Dan Sneild. His arrival seems to upset the balance. Miss Bowser and Uncle Jack argue all the time. Primrose’s plans seem to make it worse. Logging comes to Mendolay Mountain – a clear cut and nothing will be the same again. Ked is going fishing more and more with her dad. Eleanor seems to like the cat poet more and more. Nothing is going right and Primrose is feeling more and more angry. She forgets to tell others how glad she is to have them as her friends, and then Ked’s dad comes for him. They move north and Primrose doesn’t have the opportunity to say good-bye. She doesn’t want to anyway. She’s too angry. But then there’s a new report telling that he’d been abandoned on the ice and no one knew where he was – though it was said no one could survive the cold.

Caught in chaos, surrounded by guilt and grief, Primrose has to figure out what to do. Her Uncle Jack says, “although we can’t keep undeserved bad things from happening, we do have control in making undeserved good things happen.” She has to find her way through all the hurt and happiness, change and tradition to find a place where she can feel satisfied that she has done all she can to make the her world a good place.

Read One Year in Coal Harbor to find out how Primrose meets that challenge. Along they way you might learns some things that will help you do the same in your world – you might find a good recipe too!
(less)

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Oct 15, 2012 Karen Yingling rated it 3 of 5 stars

Primrose Squarp is back, and so are her parents, after being missing for a while during Everything on a Waffle (2001). She is settling back in with her parents, trying to arrange her Uncle Jack's romance for him, and hanging out with her former foster parents, Bert and Evie, whose dog Quincehead just passed away. Feeling lonely, they agree to take in another foster child, Ked, with whom Primrose gets along famously. When nearby Mendolay Mountain is in danger of being strip mined, the community r...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Kwinks rated it 4 of 5 stars

Is it wrong that the entire time I read this book (and Waffle) I wanted so much to go out to coffee with Polly Horvath? She writes the kinds of books that I would have gobbled up as a tween and now love as an adult. They are not sugary sweet or predictable. They are actually kind of dark. I love them.
That said, this one bogged down a pinch for me in the middle. Perhaps I am a bad person and did not care enough about the logging to want to read so much about it. Or perhaps this one was a little...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Andrew Shuping rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: not-amazon

ARC provided by NetGalley

It’s true I’m probably not the age for this book, but it being a sequel to an award winning book I thought I’d give it a try. And I’m sorry but book is one of the worst I've read in a while. First of all I don’t understand why they’d release a sequel 10 years after the original book. It just seems like an awful long time to wait to regale readers with the next tale in Primrose’s life (I also didn’t think the original was that great.) Secondly every time I encountered a p...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s-chapter-book, newbery-contender-2013, reviewed-for-emmet-o-neal-library-c

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Nov 06, 2012 Kristin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: best-of-2012, family, food, foster-care, friendship, humor, kids, middle-grade, read-in-2012, reader-s-advisory

Check this review out and others on my blog: Get Real.

A real pleasure to read, One Year in Coal Harbor is the sequel to Newbery Honor book Everything on a Waffle. Primrose Squarp is doing well now that her parents have returned from being lost at sea. She still visits her foster parents Bert and Evie and even makes a new friend they take in Ked. Primrose is filled with plans for Ked, whom wants to stay in Coal Harbor permanently, and her Uncle Jack and Miss Bowser - Primrose would like them to g...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Reving rated it 5 of 5 stars

Thank you very much for allowing me to read One Year in Coal Harbor. This review will be published at revingsblog.blogspot.com and on goodreads.com.

Polly Horvath is a beautiful writer. Her books are the kind that you fall right into and get lost in the world she has created. I've loved everything I've read from her and I really enjoyed One Year in Coal Harbor. This is a sequel to Everything on a Waffle and tells the further adventures of Primrose, her family, Burt and Evie, Uncle Jack and a new...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Caitlin rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 07, 2012 Tasha rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens-books

Return to the world of Horvath’s Newbery Honor winning Everything on a Waffle in this follow up. Primrose Squarp is back living with her parents in Coal Harbor and everything should be just fine, but there’s more trouble brewing in town. Primrose just knows that if people would listen to her, it would all work out fine. Like Uncle Jack and Kate Bowzer: Primrose knows they are in love, but they just won’t admit it. Then there’s the lack of a best friend, though the new foster kid might just be th...more

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Dec 08, 2012 Erin (as a children's librarian, just professional rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: j-fic, realistic, series

I wasn't a huge fan of 'Everything on a Waffle' and I didn't like the bunny book even enough to read more than the first few pages BUT I loved this book. Quick summary: Primrose is lonely, introspective, and imaginative. Her best friends are the old people who fostered her when her parents were missing and the woman who runs the cafe. She's trying to set her uncle up with the cafe owner. A company buys one of the mountains and clear cuts it. Her foster parents get a new foster child who becomes...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Red Balloon Bookshop added it

Shelves: middle-grade-fiction, reviewed-by-barb

Fans of the ever-optimistic, unflappable Primrose Squarp, rejoice! She's still in Coal Harbor, B.C., trying to make sense of life's ups and downs as she struggles through a pretty tough year. In this companion to the Newbery Honor book, Everything on a Waffle, Primrose is a bit older and a bit wiser, but her world keeps changing (not for the better), and it's hard for her to know when to fight it and when to let it go. There's plenty of laughter, a lot of tears--and, of course, recipes (mostly i...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Chelsea rated it 3 of 5 stars

I never read Everything on a Waffle, so I'm evaluating this book entirely on its own. Coal Harbor is a charming setting, though some of the local characters blur together at times. Also, I think the plot needs an anchor - while it's meant to be a year in the life of Primrose and her community, without any previous affection for these characters, I found my interest drifting at times. I'm also often skeptical of books in which the child protagonist is almost entirely surrounded by adults. Primros...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Karen Maurer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not as enticing as "Everything On a Waffle", this is still a fun and quirky book about the seaside BC town of Coal Harbor. Horvath is fabulous at quirky.

Primrose's former foster parents, Bert and Evie, lose their beloved dog in the first chapter and then they get a new foster child and Primrose's Uncle Jack tries to open a restaurant - RIGHT ACROSS from the diner owned by his beloved!!! and the path of friendship and true love just won't go the way Primrose wants it to go. And she works so hard...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars

This would be an interesting book club, or even older elementary kid book club pick. There are things about it that are really stellar, including the fact that the author stays true to being entirely in the point of view of her narrator. We never get an interruption that clarifies things from an adult perspective, and I appreciated that. Characterization is also good. However, the rambling interior monologues and a few over simplifications didn't keep the plot moving forward for me. I wanted to...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ever wonder what happened to Primrose Squarp when her parents came home from being lost at sea? This book will satisfy you. A sequel to Horvath's Newbery Honor book Everything on a Waffle, this book isn't quite as complete as the first book, but it's a rollicking ride Hovarth-style. Nobody does description like she does: "I'd turned back to watch the ocean. It looked like the sea was flinging bedsheets over a bed that refused to stay made. It could not make the sheets lie flat and neat and tidy....more

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Oct 02, 2012 Kristin Redmond rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio, fiction, juv

This is the companion to Everything on a Waffle. Primrose’s life has returned to normal now that her parents have returned safely from their year stranded on an island. There are plenty of things to keep her busy now. She is desperately trying to be a matchmaker to her Uncle Jack and Miss Bowzer, but that’s not going so well. Primrose is a bit lonely and would love to have a friend of her own. Can she find anyone in her small town to be best friends with? When the town becomes aware that a loggi...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Cathy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Cathy by: Everything on a Waffle sequel

Shelves: juvenile-fiction

Readers rejoice--Primrose Squarp is back! The wise and curious heroine of the Newbery Honor Book Everything on a Waffle is facing another adventure-filled year in Coal Harbor. Even though her parents, once lost at sea, are home, there's a whole slew of problems and mysteries to keep Primrose--and eager fans--busy.

I gave three stars to Everything on a Waffle. Sadly this book did not even measure out to that. I understand that Coal Harbor is likely a small town by the eccentricities of the small...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Bridget R. Wilson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, mg-contemporary

With her parents returned from being lost at sea, Primrose Squarp is more than a little surprised that her life is not back to normal. Her former foster parents have a new kid, an older boy named Ked. Primrose takes him under her wing and includes him her plan to publish a cookbook. Try as her might, a romance between her friend Ms. Bowzer and her Uncle Jack is not forthcoming. Primrose is her usual quirky self.

What I thought: It's been about 4 years since I read Everything On a Waffle and met...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Barb Middleton rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic, friendship

Dang, I was confused reading this book. Granted it wasn't all the author's fault. I've turned into a loopy menopausal reader which means momentary brain shutdowns. At least that's my excuse. I also DESPERATELY NEED SPRING BREAK! First, I thought Quincehead was a parrot. He ain't. He's a gawl dong blasted dog. If you read too fast the word, Cockapoo, is quite similar to cockatoo. Then I read Bert and Evie as Bert and Ernie. Their spitfire dialogue made me think they were hyperactive ten-year-old...more Dang, I was confused reading this book. Granted it wasn't all the author's fault. I've turned into a loopy menopausal reader which means momentary brain shutdowns. At least that's my excuse. I also DESPERATELY NEED SPRING BREAK! First, I thought Quincehead was a parrot. He ain't. He's a gawl dong blasted dog. If you read too fast the word, Cockapoo, is quite similar to cockatoo. Then I read Bert and Evie as Bert and Ernie. Their spitfire dialogue made me think they were hyperactive ten-year-old twins (I've been teaching a few lately). They ain't. They're a husband and wife who like to use the word "ain't" and quirky sentences such as "No people is different, is all." The description of Ked made me think he was a special needs kid. He ain't either. Some terrific lines and oddball characters kept me flipping the pages, but I was left scratching me head when it came to plot and I skimmed parts.

I think the main point of the story was that Primrose doesn't have a best friend and she makes one in Ked... not that I was on my top reading behavior. The subplot is her playing matchmaker with Uncle Jack and Miss Bowzer. This goal gets lost at times as the plot wanders. I wasn't sure why the teacher Miss Conner had to go and Miss Larkin had to replace her except that the author loved the awful poems Miss Larkin wrote. They are funny but they don't advance the plot. The theme of teachers having such tough jobs that they get mental illness lacked authenticity and kind of irked me.

Primrose has long interior monologues and sounds like an adult more often than a twelve-year-old child. When she was fighting with Eleanor I thought she finally sounded like a child. Usually her humor is adult-like and I'm not sure if it will appeal to kids. Sure, I laughed, but is a twelve-year-old going to have that much wisdom? Particularly when it comes to romance? For example, "I forgot that Uncle Jack was a lefty and sat next to Miss Bowzer, where his cutting arm kept knocking into hers, which might have been a good thing if she'd been a sly, flirty, go-ahead-and-knock-into-me-with-your-knife-arm-you-big-lug type. But she wasn't. She was more the I'm-going-to-try-to-ignore-the-line-of-bruises-forming-up-my-arm type. If I was less invested in their future happiness, I might have found it entertaining. Well, all right, it was entertaining anyway." I laughed, but thought she sounded more like a fourteen or fifteen-year-old. Sometimes the audience felt YA with the touched on themes of drugs and abuse and romance, but nothing is gone into great depth so perhaps it is fine.

I liked lines here and there such as, "It is a terrible thing to have pockets of emptiness where something or someone should be. I felt it when my parents were missing," but I found other lines confusing or too many asides, such as when granny and the Hacky Sack boy were talking about him being a hair stylist. I kept waiting for the complete story regarding the parents being lost at sea for a year, but it is never elaborated on. How can you be lost at sea for a year and survive? I grew up in the middle of the country so perhaps this is a dumb question? I know that the "lost at sea" angle is used so that Primrose has empathy toward Ked, but Horvath emphasizes it so much, I thought there was more to it.

The use of mini-marshmallows as an object that has many different meanings for different characters is clever. Evie uses them to make people feel better. When a character is having a rough patch, Evie is always there with food. I ate more food reading this book because of all the food references. Horvath has recipes at the end of the chapters and many scenes take place in a restaurant. The end-of-chapter recipes reminded me of Hattie Mae's articles in "Moon Over Manifest." In both novels, I read them at first, then skipped them at the end. That's just me. I like sticking to the story. Make sure you read this on a full stomach or you'll be like me reaching for some snack every time you curl up in your favorite reading spot.

One last thing, and this is a SPOILER so don't read on if you don't want to know... the opening scene has a dog being put to sleep. Unless you are like me and think it is a parrot being put to sleep. Doesn't have the same emotional punch as a dog dying. Later on another dog gets hit by a car and killed. The deaths reveal Primrose dealing with the loss of her friend Ked and her mother giving her advice on dealing with death, but I think readers who are sensitive to the loss of an animal will be turned off. Just pretend it is a cockatoo, not a Cockapoo. My spell checker just asked me if I meant Kickapoo. If you like word play and understated humor, then give this book a go. If not, give it a kick-a-poo.

Reading Level 5.0(less)

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Jan 27, 2013 Robin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s-lit-realistic-fiction, environment-conservation, favorites, humor

lots of great moments in this book . . . Polly Horvath moments. I love her characters insights and ways of looking at the world. I love how she makes the reader aware of things that not even her main character, Primrose, is aware of. Primrose is a lovely young girl, but also tied to her own perspective. We discover things as the reader that she does later, and other discoveries are made together.

So much humor here as well! and the recipes . . . while I have no desire to make Freeziola, I might...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Vikki VanSickle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: canadian, children-s-literature, middle-grade

The book takes place, as suggested by the title, over one eventful year in a small town in British Columbia. Horvath nails the moody but awe-inspiring landscape and a good deal of the plot revolves around the potential logging of the area. As in Everything on a Waffle, each chapter is followed by a recipe in Primrose’s own words. I very much enjoyed this aspect of the first novel and was glad to see that Horvath carried it over to the sequel.

Primrose is a bit of an odd duck, which I love. She pr...more The book takes place, as suggested by the title, over one eventful year in a small town in British Columbia. Horvath nails the moody but awe-inspiring landscape and a good deal of the plot revolves around the potential logging of the area. As in Everything on a Waffle, each chapter is followed by a recipe in Primrose’s own words. I very much enjoyed this aspect of the first novel and was glad to see that Horvath carried it over to the sequel.

Primrose is a bit of an odd duck, which I love. She prefers the company of adults, is extremely practical, and has a dry sense of humour. Primrose’s attempts at matchmaking her uncle and Miss Bowzer are as endearing as they are hilarious. There is nothing remotely cloying or earnest about her, in fact her honesty and scheming may turn some adult readers off, but I think children will relate to her upfront character.

There is no one like Polly Horvath. Her range as a writer is impressive and she is very difficult to categorize. For a children’s author, this is something of a rarity. Often authors find a key formula, genre, or style and stick with it. After all, if kids like something, they demand more. You know what you are getting when you pick up a novel by Gordon Korman, Judy Blume, or Lesley Livingston, for example.

With Horvath, it’s always a surprise. Her novels are always well-written and lean to the literary side of things. She plays with absurdity, dark humour, and hope. Even when Horvath’s endings are happy they feel tinged with melancholy. One Year in Coal Harbor opens with the death of a beloved dog, which is an unusual and risky way to open a middle grade novel, but does wonders to set the tone and introduce readers to Primrose’s empathy and provides an honest, sensitive look at some of the grimmer truths of life. It isn’t necessary to read Everything on a Waffle to appreciate One Year in Coal Harbor, but for a full picture of the world and Primrose’s development as a character, I highly recommend it.(less)

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Sep 16, 2012 Jasmine Ko rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade, netgalley

I adored Everything on a Waffle (it was my very first MMGM post!) and was ecstatic to find out there is now a sequel for my beloved book. I didn't think it needed a sequel, just like how I felt with Princess Academy: Palace of Stone, but I was pleasantly surprised with that sequel, so I thought this would be another great addition to Primrose's story. However, I'm sorry to say that I was very disappointed.

SPOILER ALERT for those who haven't read Everything on a Waffle!!! It was nice to revisit a...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Angie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley

Hmmm.
I thought this book was HILARIOUS in some places. I haven't read Everything on a Waffle but I have read some of her other books and she just does quirky and funny turns of phrase so well.

So ... rating for me? Four stars. I started taking some screen shots in Skitch (since you can't bookmark or make notes electronic advanced reading copies, which is how I was reading it) of the funniest lines. I was going to quote a couple of them here.

But there were so many! And having to retype everything...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Sarah Sammis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley, needs-review, read-in-2012, exwishlist

One Year in Coal Harbor by Polly Horvath is the sequel to Everything on a Waffle. Although Primrose returns to narrate, she isn't the main character. That honor goes to Evie and Bert's newest foster child, a troubled boy named Ked.

Ked spends one year with his foster parents. In that time Primrose does her best to help him fit in. She can still remember the time when she was ridiculed for being a foster child.

Primrose's uncle and the owner of the Girl on the Red Swing continue to compete. Now it'...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Heidi rated it 3 of 5 stars

One Year in Coal Harbor drops us back into the oceanside town in British Columbia where you can play hockey at Uncle Jack’s house or have Miss Bowzer fix you up something to eat–just know it’s going to come on a waffle. It’s been a year since Primrose’s parents returned, and she to her home with them. She’s more rich now than ever with her Uncle Jack staying on in town, as well as Bert and Evie, her temporary foster parents who had moved to Coal Harbor all sticking by her. She visits all of them...more One Year in Coal Harbor drops us back into the oceanside town in British Columbia where you can play hockey at Uncle Jack’s house or have Miss Bowzer fix you up something to eat–just know it’s going to come on a waffle. It’s been a year since Primrose’s parents returned, and she to her home with them. She’s more rich now than ever with her Uncle Jack staying on in town, as well as Bert and Evie, her temporary foster parents who had moved to Coal Harbor all sticking by her. She visits all of them regularly, along with keeping up her regular sessions at The Girl in the Red Swing learning to cook all variety of dishes with Miss Bowzer.

I observed in the last novel that Primrose Squarp is surprisingly resilient and full of faith, but also lacking in companions her own age. This is rectified in One Year in Coal Harbor when Bert and Evie take on a new foster child, Ked, who Primrose quickly comes to think of as her best friend (even though she’d never tell him that). Primrose recognizes in Ked the loneliness and thin places she herself was in when her parents were missing and instinctively finds he is someone she can relate to and wants to protect, despite his reluctance to reveal anything about his own past.

I didn’t want to say he was Bert and Evie’s foster child. As soon as people find out someone is a foster child they treat them as if they are criminals or diseased. One thing I learned when my parents disappeared at sea was that it is human nature to secretly suspect that the things that happen to people are really their own fault in some way. That we bring our misfortunes upon ourselves. Even if the bad things that happen to us are clearly just a case of bad luck, there’s a kind of underlying belief that there’s a certain amount of bad luck in the world and it attaches to people who are less deserving. I wanted to protect Ked from this even though it was probably something he already knew.

As in its predecessor, the problems in One Year in Coal Harbor are very real and bigger than the little girl telling the story. However, because of that little girl the story feels cozy and personal. Primrose is able to gauge issues the way we adults let slip from our perspectives at times. Her care for Ked, her concern for Uncle Jack and Kate Bowzer who she is certain must get married, and observations of a town protesting the logging of a mountain in their backyard are all reflected through Primrose’s insightful thoughts, and of course, we are graced with more recipes.

One Year in Coal Harbor is a wonderful story about not letting our pasts dictate who we will be, and also the reality that some things just are. Primrose realizes somewhere along the road that the majority of things in life we cannot fix or ruin, but we can still change them. She tries her hardest to change those things she sees in need, but also finds out that you can’t really control other people’s lives if they want certain things. I was so happy to see Primrose gain a friend at last, and it was wonderful to see her stick her neck out for someone who was currently going through something so akin to what she’d known.

Originally review posted at Bunbury in the Stacks.(less)

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Oct 16, 2012 Monica Edinger rated it 3 of 5 stars

Bit of a slow start for me*, but once I got into it I enjoyed it. What I like best about Horvath is her dry, understated humor and I was glad to see it here, lovely little sentences poking up here and there. My favorites are the throw-away lines, off-kilter vocabulary, and the odd-images here and there. Say the dreadful cat poems penned by Ms. Larkin. The plot felt a bit muddled, but it didn't matter as I read Horvath for the journey not the destination.

*SPOILER.
I started this book a while ago...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Keith rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read Everything on a Waffle a few years ago and so I picked up this one to read to find out more about the story. Unfortunately, I barely could recall anything about the first book at all. Reading this book, none of the characters were familiar to me, and basically the only thing that rang a bell was the fact that everything in the restaurant was served on top of a waffle. That said, by itself it was a good solid story and kept me fairly interested. I wasn't jumping up and down, but it was ent...more

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About Polly Horvath

Polly Horvath is the author of many books for young people, including Everything on a Waffle, The Pepins and Their Problems, The Canning Season and The Trolls. Her numerous awards include the Newbery Honor, the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature, the Mr. Christie Award, the international White Raven...more

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Books by Polly Horvath

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny—Detectives Extraordinaire!

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Quotes from One Year in Coal Harbor

“You can't replace one dog with another any more than you can replace one person with another, but that's not to say you shouldn't get more dogs and people in your life.” — 4 people liked it

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One Year in Coal Harbor

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