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The Canning Season

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 · rating details · 531 ratings · 143 reviews

Love under trying circumstances

One night out of the blue, Ratchet Clark’s ill-natured mother tells her that Ratchet will be leaving their Pensacola apartment momentarily to take the train up north. There she will spend the summer with her aged relatives Penpen and Tilly, inseparable twins who couldn’t look more different from each other. Staying at their secluded house, Ra...more

Hardcover, 208 pages

Published May 7th 2003 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (first published May 1st 2003)

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The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

National Book Award / Young People's Literature category

14th out of 34 books — 25 voters

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CLA Young Adult Canadian Book Award Finalists 2004

2nd out of 10 books — 1 voter

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Apr 24, 2011 Kwesi 章英狮 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, polly-horvath, 2011

I really enjoyed listening to old stories of my aunts, uncles and most of all my grandparents. I really love my grandfather but he died before I ask him his love story and his life in Ilo-ilo fighting for his life from the cruelty of the Japanese armies. At least I still have my grandmother who can still talk but cannot remember everything from her past, but I know some of her secrets and stories that inspire me for so long still there are probabilities that she made fictitious stories.

My mom is...more

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Feb 16, 2009 Carrie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I bought this book because it was on sale at the bookstore downstairs in my building, and was the winner of the 2003 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. When I started it, I feared it was going to be one of those really odd children's books, the kind that wins awards, because grown-ups like it, but is too unsettling for actual children (such as, in my humble opinion, Tuck Everlasting, which I am sorry but is the creepiest damn book around - and I like Natalie Babbit). The book con...more

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May 24, 2013 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chapter-or-mg, favorites

All of the poetry and lyricism in Horvath's writing that I love, but with a plot isn't weighed down but it. Rachet, the protagonist, is more of an observer than participant, but I feel it works better than in other Horvath books. Particularly when Harper shows up- much of the beginning of the book is filled with the nostalgic stories of Rachet's aunts, but Harper's arrival forces the story and characters into action.

This book didn't shy away from some big topics: death, fractured and untradition...more

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Jun 07, 2012 Nathaniel rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book, meant (surprisingly) for children, was consistently funny and dark and vivid and odd. Nothing about the way the story unfolds is predictable, but at the same time, Horvath secures you so completely and convincingly with the characters and their setting (a rambling old house on the coast of Maine) that the twists and turns the story takes not only surprise you, they make you feel even more included in the offbeat nature of these character's lives. Ratchet, Tilly, Penpen and, eventually...more

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Aug 25, 2011 Saskia Marijke Niehorster-Cook rated it 4 of 5 stars

Meandering in Portland, Oregon, we discovered the LARGEST bookstore in the whole world! It was a block long and wide, but inside were many different levels! Each one had different kinds of books. Only trouble was: We had barely one hour to be in it! I was so cranky about it, that when the kids came rushing over asking me to help them find their books i almost shouted at them: "Get lost", which would not have been too difficult. I knew there was no way any of us would have time enough, even if we...more Meandering in Portland, Oregon, we discovered the LARGEST bookstore in the whole world! It was a block long and wide, but inside were many different levels! Each one had different kinds of books. Only trouble was: We had barely one hour to be in it! I was so cranky about it, that when the kids came rushing over asking me to help them find their books i almost shouted at them: "Get lost", which would not have been too difficult. I knew there was no way any of us would have time enough, even if we were left to our own devises, so I explained to them I was on a five minute mission to find a couple of books I wanted and then I would help them out with their missions. Unfortunately, they only had Cutting for Stone, and not his other book, and well... this is not a story of that day, so I will move on, but if you ever find yourself in Portland, stop by and be amazed and amused in this the Powell Bookstore. Did I mention they sell new AND used books?

This book was my find! We drove down to Elmira, Oregon to visit some good friends from our life in San Diego, and happily I learned how to do Freezer Jam with the bucket of strawberries we picked earlier on that morning. Well, that was just a taste of what was to come! Two days later we picked four buckets full and my friend Stephanie and I spent the whole day making strawberry Jam! Luckily for me, I also had this book, which makes me wonder; What came first the book title or the desire to make Jelly?

The book is a coming of age (I LOVE THAT KIND OF BOOK) of a young girl (Ratchet) whose mom does not love her as much as any girl needs to be loved, and so is sent to visit some two aunties, old as the hills, in a little forgotten backwater country home in Maine. The Great Aunts do love her and lavish her with wacky stories and love, and though they forget to make and eat dinners with her, and have their own little upheavals, including a forest full of humongous and hungry bears, none-the-less, this little girl gets a bizarre and loving family. Not much later into the story another girl also gets dumped there by mistake, thinking the place is an orphanage, and she, as well, becomes part of the family. What they harvest is Blueberries with a shotgun to keep the bears away.

The story is filled with drama and slapstick no nonsense humor, a story full of gruesome stories that are poignant yet hilarious at times. I cried and laughed at the same time!

The only thing I wish was different, was that those two aunties were mine!(less)

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Apr 21, 2011 Julia Pineda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-literature

I don't know what it is about this book- I can't quite put my finger on it, because in all reality, nothing extraordinary happens, or nothing super suspensful-but I walked away from it feeling extremely satisfied and content. I enjoyed it immensely. I gave it three stars because like I said, it is not a five-there is nothing truly outrageous to garner such a review. Yet, it kept me reading and enthralled the entire time. I think that there is something so relatable about the book and its strange...more

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Feb 28, 2011 Parksy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: award-winning, humorous

Excellent quick read.
Lovely characters, and a excellent no gimmicks needed character piece.

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Amazon.com Review
As in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, Polly Horvath tells the story of an abandoned child who is sent to live with two distant relatives in a big, lonely house. The magic in Horvath's story, however, lies not in talking bugs but in the hearts and minds of its characters. Thirteen-year-old Ratchet Clark, a girl with a deformity on her shoulder blade her breezily cruel, self-a...more Excellent quick read.
Lovely characters, and a excellent no gimmicks needed character piece.

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Amazon.com Review
As in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, Polly Horvath tells the story of an abandoned child who is sent to live with two distant relatives in a big, lonely house. The magic in Horvath's story, however, lies not in talking bugs but in the hearts and minds of its characters. Thirteen-year-old Ratchet Clark, a girl with a deformity on her shoulder blade her breezily cruel, self-absorbed mother calls "That Thing," is unceremoniously kicked out for the summer while her mom attends to important things, like how to gain entry into the prestigious Pensacola country club. Mom drops Ratchet off at her great second-cousins' enormous, turreted house in Maine, a remote seaside estate surrounded by oily blueberry bogs and bears.
What starts out as a fairly grim proposition transforms as Ratchet befriends the endearing, downright hilarious 91-year-old twins Aunt Tilly and Aunt Penpen who are "as different as chalk and cheese" and learns the ways of rural Maine. When another unwanted teenage girl named Harper ("obnoxious, but strangely compelling") enters the scene, the household dynamic changes yet again. Though fairytale-like in its setting and its charm, do not be fooled. Suicide, decapitation, wretched mothers, and a sprinkling of profanity pepper this poignant, philosophical, darkly humorous novel that dips into subjects from technology to love to death. In Horvath's capable hands, readers are left believing in the best of human nature as she switches effortlessly from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again. Wild stories, brilliant dialogue, and vats of compassion distinguish Newbery Honor author Horvath's latest offering. (Ages 12 and older) --Karin Snelson

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9-Horvath outdoes herself in this tale of lonely, friendless Ratchet Clark, who lives with her uncaring mother in Pensacola, FL. One night, out of the blue, Henriette packs her daughter onto the train to spend the summer with two elderly relatives, twins Tilly and Penpen, who live in an area of Maine so remote that servant-eating bears are a constant menace. Here, with her outlandishly eccentric great-aunts, Ratchet hears gruesome yet darkly humorous stories of family lore while experiencing, for the first time, some love and care. Harper, another parentless girl, soon joins Ratchet. The approaching canning season becomes not only a metaphor for that moment in each life when everything is ripe, but also provides Ratchet with the self-confidence found in working with others and with a means to support herself. Offbeat, slapstick humor is mitigated by poignancy in Horvath's distinctive rollicking style. There is occasional use of strong language, and the family stories are woven with death, often gruesomely described. Parents take a big hit in this novel, leaving Ratchet and readers with the message that one finds happiness and peace in oneself. The Canning Season, like Horvath's Everything on a Waffle (Farrar, 2001), reads like a tall tale with fantastic and realistic elements interwoven. And, as in a tall tale, Ratchet, Tilly, and Penpen become larger than life and unforgettable. Readers are in for a wise and wacky ride when they open this novel.
Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. Horvath's 2002 Newbery Honor Book had a sprightly title, Everything on a Waffle. This title is more mundane, but both books follow the pattern Horvath set in The Trolls (1999): a young person is in some sense orphaned and put in the care of an older relative with stories to spin. Here the girl is 13-year-old Ratchet, who is sent by her boorish mother to the wilds of Maine, where Ratchet's twin great aunts, Tilly and Penpen, live in splendid isolation, gardening, fending off bears, and reminiscing about the old days, like the time Penpen tripped over her mother's head (the depressed woman had managed to chop it off). But this is more the aunts' story than Ratchet's; the girl is primarily a "talk-to" character until another unwanted teen, Harper, arrives. The girls are the filler in a sandwich that is both dark and wry, with most of the pages taken up by the problems of various adults. Will the intended audience appreciate the truths and idiosyncrasies contained in the tales of the two sisters? Horvath is a winning writer, luxurious in her descriptions, so perhaps she can overcome the problem of audience appeal. A caveat: the term "little fucks" is used at one point; otherwise, the language is sometimes salty but not vulgar. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
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Jun 07, 2010 Karin rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: finished-but-hated, quirky, young-adult-fiction, juvenile-fiction, realistic, families, child-abandonment, bizarre-in-a-bad-way, audio-edition, borrowed-from-the-library

Ratchet (named for the tool) is sent to spend the summer with her great aunts - 91 year old twins, Tilly and Penpen - because her mother can't be bothered to look after her. Her mother is a strange and carelessly cruel person who casually abandons her daughter into the care of these estranged relatives who Ratchet has never met. They may be strange, but at least they are kind - if somewhat distracted. Ratchet is joined at the aunts by another young woman who is also abandoned by her caregiver wh...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Brianne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-lit

When I started to read "The Canning Season" I wasn't sure what to expect. First off, the mother named her daughter Ratchet, which I didn't really understand. However, as I read more and more into it I really started to enjoy the book. It is a simple read book and if you can get into it, it's actually at a fairly fast pace.

I thought the structure of the book was interesting. Sometimes I couldn't remember if we were in a story that one of the characters were telling or if it was back to the reali...more

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Apr 21, 2011 Michael Elrod rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adults

From the beginning this book had a very "Secondhand Lions" feel to it. Deadbeat parent leaving their kids with estranged relatives, and the children "growing up," under the care of those who were not intended to raise them...I definitely thought this book was intended for the younger end of the young adult spectrum. I thought it contained great characters. Nearly every chapter introduced a new interesting character with a short background, and how they related to Penpen, and Tilly. Take for inst...more

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Apr 21, 2011 Janessa Brown rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-literature

As the characters bounce in and out of this secluded manor in the woods, some see it as terrifying, isolating, or disgusting. However, Tilly, Penpen, Ratchet, and Harper find a sort of peace, serenity, and safety within the bear infested woods. The first thing that bothered me about this story, was that it seemed the author was justifying running from your problems. However, I believe she did a good job of showing how different people react to bad (or any) situations. All have suffered pain, rem...more As the characters bounce in and out of this secluded manor in the woods, some see it as terrifying, isolating, or disgusting. However, Tilly, Penpen, Ratchet, and Harper find a sort of peace, serenity, and safety within the bear infested woods. The first thing that bothered me about this story, was that it seemed the author was justifying running from your problems. However, I believe she did a good job of showing how different people react to bad (or any) situations. All have suffered pain, remorse, and loss of family. Tilly and Penpen choose to simply seclude themselves and not participate in the world. I felt almost as if memories imprisoned them at Glen Rosa. It was their attempt at stopping time. It's on page 106 that Penpen realizes that their youth had vanished, and, as much as they tried to control their environment and circumstances, they could not bring time to a halt.

Ratchet and Harper are opposite in almost every aspect except the fact that they both come from broken homes. This contrast between characters was the most fascinating for me as I read this rather. . . interesting story. Ratchet represented the meek, shy child who simply wants a real mother figure. She's spent the years of her young life worried about her mother's happiness, because as long as Henriette is unhappy she will be too. Harper's lunatic aunt brings her to and from Glen Rosa several times throughout the storyline. However, it is at Glen Rosa where Harper finally finds a home. This novel portrays the ability to find happiness in the most unexpected places, in the most peculiar ways. While this novel creates situations that allow its reader to understand certain morals and life lessons, the storyline was not my favorite. While Harper was the strong, outgoing, witty child from the start, I feel like you see more change and progression from her character. Hatchet, on the other hand, is a fairly static character. While she sometimes found her voice, it seems as though she develops just enough courage to leave Henriette. I would have liked to see her progress a little bit more.

WARNING: There is some language, as well as some descriptive, graphic scenes. (less)

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Apr 22, 2011 Robbie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, april-july-2011

I do not particularly care for this book. I suppose if I wanted to turn my brain off and be numb for more than an hour this is the sort of book I would pick up.
It does have its okay bits, they are crammed in between the bits of sweet nothings of information. I found the book to be rather predictable, I saw right through the plot. It was agonizing to read through this book, the plot was boring and unsophisticated. Personally I think this is not a book a teenager should read, they would be bored s...more

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Jan 18, 2011 Ali rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kids-books

Just finished reading The Canning Season by Polly Horvath. It's a bizarre little gem of character study. I found myself convicted by this particular exchange:

"You gals ought to keep abreast of things," said Mr. Feebles.

"Why?" asked Tilly grumpily. "What good does it do you? It seems to me, from what you've been telling us, that everyone these days knows everything about everyone and the split second it happens, too. What do they do with all this information? What does it get them? It just clutte...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Haylee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Surprisingly, I enjoyed reading this book. It's not one of my all time favorite books, nor would I necessarily recommend it, but there were qualities that I really enjoyed. First of all, it is a simple story on a complex matter. Through Rachet and Harper, I realized that good things still happen to those who are outcasts of their own family. Second, the characters were fairly relatable and nothing is too eccentric, except for maybe the bears and a few other things. I'm not for sure why bears are...more

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Oct 12, 2011 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: slis-5425

The Canning Season is a wonderfully understated book. With quick, sharp humor, and a near-absence of intrusive modern technology, Horvath tells a story of two girls' coming of age, intertwined with life, death, and the making a family that hinges less on biology and more on love. It may be difficult at first to comprehend Tilly and Penpen's at times off-the-wall behavior, but anyone with elderly relatives should be familiar with how things said don't always quite make sense.

When Rachet comes to...more

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Apr 25, 2011 Kailee Jensen rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-lit

This book disgusted me. The plot line failed to keep me hooked, and it was just disturbing. The grotesque images--particularly body parts--were rampant throughout the novel. Although these images contributed greatly to the story, I would not choose to write or read them again. Horvath does do a nice job of developing her characters, although they are extremely odd. She has her own unique voice that is obvious in the story, and there were times that I got a good laugh from her sense of humor. But...more

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Jun 01, 2011 jzhunagev rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Kidz!

Recommended to jzhunagev by: Kwesi Ian Jay Junsan

Shelves: award-winning-best-seller, childrens-or-middle-grade-books, fiction-contemporary, comedy, 2011-reads

A Can of Humor and Warmth
(A Book Review of Polly Horvath’s The Canning Season)

Thirteen year old Ratchet Clark is a girl living in a windowless and grimy “sub-basement apartment” in Pensacola, Florida with her self-centered mom Henriette who has an unreasonable longing to become a member of the classy Hunts Club. Named after a tool by her mother to spite her no-good father, forbidden to make friends, with Cheerios as her only source of sustenance and taught at an early age to be mortally ashamed of ‘That Thing” on her shoulder, indeed, Ratchet lives a miserable life. As summer kicks in, Ratchet is unceremoniously dropped off by her mother to spend vacation with her great-second cousins in Maine, relatives she hasn’t even heard of.

Once in Glen Rosa, an isolated house next to the ocean and a sprawling estate surrounded by woods infested with bears, Ratchet meets the nonagenarian twin sisters Penpen and Tilly who can surprisingly still drive despite their age, has a phone that only allows incoming calls, have made a pact with each other to die together whenever the time comes and delight in their reputation as the “queer Menuto women.” In no time at all, the shy and timid Ratchet, with another young outcast named Harper, quickly becomes accustomed to the farm life of milking cows, taking care of the chickens, gardening and picking up blueberries in time for the caning season. This odd cast of characters will form an unlikely family of sorts all the while learning from one another. Both Ratchet and Harper’s lives will be changed forever as they slowly discover about surprising things about love and belonging but more importantly about themselves.

Contrasting themes of age and youth, selfish and caring adults, isolation against how technology links the world, The Caning Season, 2003 winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, by Polly Horvath takes us into some of the most outrageous situations of bizarre family stories, alongside comic and horrific incidents and characters facing rejection, loss and longing, that gives the book its humor and warmth with a few fits of giggles enough to keep the reader curious to find out what happens next. It’s a completely satisfying read and a story that seems to continue past its thoughtful sweet ending.

_________________________
Book Details: Book #17 for 2011
Published by FSG
(Trade Paperback, First Sunburst 2005 Edition)
196 pages
Started: May 24, 2011
Finished: May 27, 2011
My Rating: ★★★

[See this review on my book blog Dark Chest of Wonders and for many others.](less)

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Apr 23, 2011 Nicole Norton rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-lit

My general feeling about this book is that I didn't quite "get it." Polly Horvath's writing style flowed well and her characters were interesting, but I didn't feel that I connected to the story.

One particular thing that bothered me was that the actual canning season portion of the book was very short and did not have a lot of detail (even though the title of the book is The Canning Season!) It seemed as if it were just skimmed over. The most significant changes/progress of the book happen befo...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Amy Gwynn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-literature

On the whole, the book didn't do a lot for me, but I'm not a Young Adult. The neglectful parent idea is a little unoriginal, but it seems to always have a welcome home in YA novels. However, the parent-less situation is something I believe a lot of young people think about, even if they don't have to deal with it. This book is good in that Ratchet thrives in her new situation as she rises above her mother's careless attitude.

I didn't like, let's be honest, how boring the book was. I was glad it...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-books

My initial impression of this book is that it's almost exactly like the movie Secondhand Lions (though not nearly as good), which came out the same year (which one came first, I wonder...). Anyway, for being an award-winning book, this was very disappointing. The writing style is choppy, which makes it somewhat irritating to read, and there isn't any real...substance to the plot. There really isn't a plot, actually, until about halfway through the book, but even once it shows it's face, it reall...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars

As I sit at story time at my local library and my boys sit attentively listening to the story being told, I eye the books on the shelves next to me in the YA section. The Canning Season caught my eye and I read it, not knowing it won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. This was a quirky story, the story in some ways reminded me of The Series of Unfortunate Events. So it's meant to be comical but a little strange I guess. It's about a girl named Ratchet who is sent to live with...more

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Apr 21, 2011 Aubrey Tucker rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-lit

I liked "The Canning Season". It was a nice, light read. Although by the time I was finished reading I was happy to see it end, it only overstayed its welcome slightly. The main characters are all female and were portrayed strongly while the male characters were mediocre. The relationship between the elderly twins was complex as were their individual characters. The personalities of Ratchet and Harper seemed realistic and believable; female young adult readers should be able to relate to these c...more

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Mar 29, 2010 Cathe Olson rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was kind of a weird book that is suprisingly (at least to me) a National Book Award winner. It's supposed to be a humourous children's novel but it's about a girl sent away by her uncaring mother to live with her elderly great-aunts--one of which is an alcoholic and both of which are having heart trouble. The place is overrun by bears and jokes are made about suicide, people being eaten by bears, unmarried pregnancy, underage driving, and kids being called f---'s. I'm no prude, but all of t...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Juliana rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-read

I am still not quite sure how I feel about this book. It was odd and endearing at the same time. So many of the book's events were quite strange and yet surprisingly relatable. I found myself smiling at many of the silly things that happened in this book. Horvath's talent for whimsical and meaningful writing is very apparent and it makes this book an enjoyable read. I was a bit surprised by the profanity and by some of the mature themes because this book is aimed toward young adults. I would not...more

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Apr 21, 2011 Jessie Kerstetter rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, finished-reading, 100-books-for-2011

I felt that overall this was an okay book. The story was pretty entertaining but I wouldn't say it was my favorite, I'd strongly suggest this book to anyone who likes reading humorous things. Horvath has a very strong sense of humor in her writing which I believe made the book a little more enjoyable.

I found this book an easy read and feel like it wouldn't challenge young adult readers enough. Maybe that's just me though? I really found that this book could be relatable to most people, at least...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Cassi rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

I had a hard time getting into this book. I felt that until the last thirty pages of the book, the characters didn’t really progress or develop. They seemed flat in a way. Towards the end, however I felt that Horvath did give her characters some kind of growth. Ratchets situation would probably hit home to more young adults then I would think, which is why I believe that it could be a great book, if read by the right reader. Overall, it was a little slow but in some ways still interesting.

Warnin...more

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Apr 27, 2011 Eishelle rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-literature

The novel I felt was way too slow for me. I did not like how, for a majority of the book, there was no point of the story, no main story line or problem. The only major thing that was happening in the novel was the the fact that Ratchet had a growth on her shoulder blade and the author made it seem like a big deal, when in the end it wasn't. The author clearly wanted the reader to know more about it and why Henriette and Ratchet wanted it covered and not seen in public at all times. I think ther...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Whitney Priestley rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

This book didn't really have me hooked in any way. It starts off very slow and starts to pick up a little bit in the middle. I didn't like how there wasn't really a plot line, or climax, or anything to that extent; at least there didn't seem to be one to me.
I think that this book has potential to be good. There are well developed characters in the book and is written well in my opinion. However, it lacked any sort of excitement and I never felt like I need to read more of it or that I had to go...more

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Apr 21, 2011 Andrea rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-literature

The book starts out kind of slow. There is about a 50 page read until you get to the good stuff. If you can't deal with violent or demented images or language you probably shouldn't read this book. I really enjoyed reading it which was surprising because of the things I have heard about it. I would recommend this to those people I know who have lost loved ones or has been left alone. Life can get better.
This book definitely shows the good things that come from the bad things in our lives. It mig...more

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May 07, 2012 Faith Buenacosa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Canning Season is my favorite book. It has a combination of warmth and coldness to it that drew me deeper into the story and then into the lives of the characters. The humor of this book is exquisite. I love the treatment and development Horvath gave each of the characters in this book.I especially like the writer's humor--the darkness, the unusualness. This is one of the books set in complete darkness so that light illuminated so brightly. This is a children's book not meant for very young kids...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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Quotes from The Canning Season

“And, I often think, the truth isn't good or bad, it's just the truth.” — 3 people liked it

“People can be hurt so badly that they choose to just stop in their tracks.” — 3 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/966719.The_Canning_Season?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1316737927l/966719.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/966719.The_Canning_Season?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Canning Season by Polly Horvath[/url]

The Canning Season

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