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Bloomability
“My second life began when I was kidnapped by two complete strangers….”
That the kidnappers are actually Aunt Sandy and Uncle Max makes no difference to thirteen-year-old Domenica Santolina Doone, better known as Dinnie--she just doesn't want to go. Dinnie's accustomed to change, with her family constantly moving for "opportunity"--but when her aunt and uncle whisk her far away to an international school in Switzerland, she's not sure she's ready to face this "opportunity" alone.
All at once she finds herself in a foreign country, surrounded by kids from different cultures speaking all sorts of languages and sharing various beliefs. Home and her first life seem so far away.
But new friendships and the awesome beauty of Switzerland begin to unlock thoughts and dreams within her. Her joys and struggles make up a rich tapestry of experiences she can find nowhere else. Switzerland begins to be more than a temporary home--it becomes a part of Dinnnie herself, the self she never knew she could be.
Switzerland is the picturesque backdrop of Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech's new novel about a young girl discovering the beauty of nature, her place in the world, the value of friendship--and that life is full of wonderful "bloomabilites."
That the kidnappers are actually Aunt Sandy and Uncle Max makes no difference to thirteen-year-old Domenica Santolina Doone, better known as Dinnie--she just doesn't want to go. Dinnie's accustomed to change, with her family constantly moving for "opportunity"--but when her aunt and uncle whisk her far away to an international school in Switzerland, she's not sure she's ready to face this "opportunity" alone.
All at once she finds herself in a foreign country, surrounded by kids from different cultures speaking all sorts of languages and sharing various beliefs. Home and her first life seem so far away.
But new friendships and the awesome beauty of Switzerland begin to unlock thoughts and dreams within her. Her joys and struggles make up a rich tapestry of experiences she can find nowhere else. Switzerland begins to be more than a temporary home--it becomes a part of Dinnnie herself, the self she never knew she could be.
Switzerland is the picturesque backdrop of Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech's new novel about a young girl discovering the beauty of nature, her place in the world, the value of friendship--and that life is full of wonderful "bloomabilites."
272 pages, Paperback
First published August 22, 1998
About the author
Sharon Creech
73 books3,410 followersI was born in South Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, and grew up there with my noisy and rowdy family: my parents (Ann and Arvel), my sister (Sandy), and my three brothers (Dennis, Doug and Tom).
For a fictional view of what it was like growing up in my family, see Absolutely Normal Chaos. (In that book, the brothers even have the same names as my own brothers.) Our house was not only full of us Creeches, but also full of friends and visiting relatives.
In the summer, we usually took a trip, all of us piled in a car and heading out to Wisconsin or Michigan or, once, to Idaho. We must have been a very noisy bunch, and I'm not sure how our parents put up with being cooped up with us in the car for those trips. The five-day trip out to Idaho when I was twelve had a powerful effect on me: what a huge and amazing country! I had no idea then that thirty-some years later, I would recreate that trip in a book called Walk Two Moons.
One other place we often visited was Quincy, Kentucky, where my cousins lived (and still live) on a beautiful farm, with hills and trees and swimming hole and barn and hayloft. We were outside running in those hills all day long, and at night we'd gather on the porch where more stories would be told. I loved Quincy so much that it has found its way into many of my books—transformed into Bybanks, Kentucky. Bybanks appears in Walk Two Moons, Chasing Redbird, and Bloomability. Bybanks also makes a brief appearance (by reference, but not by name) in The Wanderer.
When I was young, I wanted to be many things when I grew up: a painter, an ice skater, a singer, a teacher, and a reporter. It soon became apparent that I had little drawing talent, very limited tolerance for falling on ice, and absolutely no ability to stay on key while singing. I also soon learned that I would make a terrible reporter because when I didn't like the facts, I changed them. It was in college, when I took literature and writing courses, that I became intrigued by story-telling. Later, I was a teacher (high school English and writing) in England and in Switzerland. While teaching great literature, I learned so much about writing: about what makes a story interesting and about techniques of plot and characterization and point of view. I started out writing novels for adults (published as Sharon Rigg): The Recital and Nickel Malley were both written and published while I was living in England (these books were published in England only and are now out of print.) But the next book was Absolutely Normal Chaos, and ever since that book I have written mainly about young people. Walk Two Moons was the first of my books to be published in America. When it received the Newbery Medal, no one was more surprised than I was. I'm still a little bit in shock.
After Walk Two Moons came Chasing Redbird, Pleasing the Ghost, Bloomability, The Wanderer, and Fishing in the Air. I hope to be writing stories for a long, long time.
I am married to Lyle Rigg, who is the headmaster of The Pennington School in Pennington, New Jersey, and have two grown children, Rob and Karin. Being with my family is what I enjoy most. The next-best thing is writing stories.
© Sharon Creech
For a fictional view of what it was like growing up in my family, see Absolutely Normal Chaos. (In that book, the brothers even have the same names as my own brothers.) Our house was not only full of us Creeches, but also full of friends and visiting relatives.
In the summer, we usually took a trip, all of us piled in a car and heading out to Wisconsin or Michigan or, once, to Idaho. We must have been a very noisy bunch, and I'm not sure how our parents put up with being cooped up with us in the car for those trips. The five-day trip out to Idaho when I was twelve had a powerful effect on me: what a huge and amazing country! I had no idea then that thirty-some years later, I would recreate that trip in a book called Walk Two Moons.
One other place we often visited was Quincy, Kentucky, where my cousins lived (and still live) on a beautiful farm, with hills and trees and swimming hole and barn and hayloft. We were outside running in those hills all day long, and at night we'd gather on the porch where more stories would be told. I loved Quincy so much that it has found its way into many of my books—transformed into Bybanks, Kentucky. Bybanks appears in Walk Two Moons, Chasing Redbird, and Bloomability. Bybanks also makes a brief appearance (by reference, but not by name) in The Wanderer.
When I was young, I wanted to be many things when I grew up: a painter, an ice skater, a singer, a teacher, and a reporter. It soon became apparent that I had little drawing talent, very limited tolerance for falling on ice, and absolutely no ability to stay on key while singing. I also soon learned that I would make a terrible reporter because when I didn't like the facts, I changed them. It was in college, when I took literature and writing courses, that I became intrigued by story-telling. Later, I was a teacher (high school English and writing) in England and in Switzerland. While teaching great literature, I learned so much about writing: about what makes a story interesting and about techniques of plot and characterization and point of view. I started out writing novels for adults (published as Sharon Rigg): The Recital and Nickel Malley were both written and published while I was living in England (these books were published in England only and are now out of print.) But the next book was Absolutely Normal Chaos, and ever since that book I have written mainly about young people. Walk Two Moons was the first of my books to be published in America. When it received the Newbery Medal, no one was more surprised than I was. I'm still a little bit in shock.
After Walk Two Moons came Chasing Redbird, Pleasing the Ghost, Bloomability, The Wanderer, and Fishing in the Air. I hope to be writing stories for a long, long time.
I am married to Lyle Rigg, who is the headmaster of The Pennington School in Pennington, New Jersey, and have two grown children, Rob and Karin. Being with my family is what I enjoy most. The next-best thing is writing stories.
© Sharon Creech
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 19, 2020
Un middle grade semplice semplice, ma comunque ben scritto, che racconta di crescita e di amicizie.
August 28, 2016
Meraviglioooooooso (da leggere come se Giuliano Sangiorgi dei Negramaro stia dando un concerto privato in spiaggia) questo libro!
Avevo già avuto modo di approcciarmi a Sharon Creech e mi era piaciuta così tanto da convincermi a leggere anche altre sue opere.
Adoro, signore e signori della giuria, ADORO!
Sharon scrive dei romanzi che parlano di ragazzini, perciò sono quasi a stampo junior, e riesce a trasmettere dei messaggi molto importanti. Mentre fa tutto questo, trova anche il tempo di essere spiritosa e di avere una scrittura a dir poco impeccabile, fluida, che cattura il lettore ed emoziona.
In "Un anno in collegio" i personaggi sono meravigliosi.
La protagonista è Dinnie, figlia di genitori nomadi che l'hanno trasportata in giro per l'America senza chiedere mai il suo consenso. Lei non sente di avere una casa, per questo per lei è quasi normale arrivare a Lugano, in Svizzera, per frequentare un collegio.
La cosa che le dispiace è che i suoi genitori non l'hanno seguita in questa nuova avventura: con lei ci sono i suoi zii, e questo è tutto.
Si sente sola, pensa che forse chi ha lasciato indietro la dimenticherà e si diverte ad attaccare cartelli alla finestra.
Si fa dei nuovi amici, ma non tutti sono "comprensibili".
Per esempio c'è Lila, che si lamenta sempre di tutto; c'è Peter che invece riesce a meravigliarsi di ogni cosa e le mette sempre il buon umore, c'è uno strano giapponese che, quando parla italiano, sembra molto un personaggio degli sketch di Stanlio e Ollio.
Un'unione di diverse etnie, certo, ma soprattutto di diversi caratteri. Come si adatterà, Dinnie, a tutti i cambiamenti e alle nuove conoscenze?
Io l'ho adorata.
Avevo già avuto modo di approcciarmi a Sharon Creech e mi era piaciuta così tanto da convincermi a leggere anche altre sue opere.
Adoro, signore e signori della giuria, ADORO!
Sharon scrive dei romanzi che parlano di ragazzini, perciò sono quasi a stampo junior, e riesce a trasmettere dei messaggi molto importanti. Mentre fa tutto questo, trova anche il tempo di essere spiritosa e di avere una scrittura a dir poco impeccabile, fluida, che cattura il lettore ed emoziona.
In "Un anno in collegio" i personaggi sono meravigliosi.
La protagonista è Dinnie, figlia di genitori nomadi che l'hanno trasportata in giro per l'America senza chiedere mai il suo consenso. Lei non sente di avere una casa, per questo per lei è quasi normale arrivare a Lugano, in Svizzera, per frequentare un collegio.
La cosa che le dispiace è che i suoi genitori non l'hanno seguita in questa nuova avventura: con lei ci sono i suoi zii, e questo è tutto.
Si sente sola, pensa che forse chi ha lasciato indietro la dimenticherà e si diverte ad attaccare cartelli alla finestra.
Si fa dei nuovi amici, ma non tutti sono "comprensibili".
Per esempio c'è Lila, che si lamenta sempre di tutto; c'è Peter che invece riesce a meravigliarsi di ogni cosa e le mette sempre il buon umore, c'è uno strano giapponese che, quando parla italiano, sembra molto un personaggio degli sketch di Stanlio e Ollio.
Un'unione di diverse etnie, certo, ma soprattutto di diversi caratteri. Come si adatterà, Dinnie, a tutti i cambiamenti e alle nuove conoscenze?
Io l'ho adorata.
April 10, 2014
È un libro talmente breve che ci si stupisce riescano a starci dentro tanti concetti interessanti.
Praticamente, prendete una ragazza povera ma non troppo, che vive in America spostandosi da uno stato all'altro con la sua famiglia, e mettetela dentro un esclusivo collegio svizzero in cui si mescola gente di ogni provenienza. Un collegio con un programma particolare, in cui scuola e attività all'aria aperta vanno a braccetto, e ci sono delle ore di lezione dedicate al pensare.
È un libro pieno di spunti di riflessione e di punti di vista, e credo potrebbe essere utile (oltre che piacevole) a molte persone.
Praticamente, prendete una ragazza povera ma non troppo, che vive in America spostandosi da uno stato all'altro con la sua famiglia, e mettetela dentro un esclusivo collegio svizzero in cui si mescola gente di ogni provenienza. Un collegio con un programma particolare, in cui scuola e attività all'aria aperta vanno a braccetto, e ci sono delle ore di lezione dedicate al pensare.
È un libro pieno di spunti di riflessione e di punti di vista, e credo potrebbe essere utile (oltre che piacevole) a molte persone.
June 23, 2011
E' un tre stelle nel senso di carino: mi è piaciuto, è un libro che si legge velocemente e pur essendo per ragazzi non è troppo banale. Il tema della multiculturalità e del superamento di pregiudizi è importante e ormai parte integrante della nostra quotidianità. Leggero, ma non troppo, piacevole nel complesso.
October 14, 2015
La scrittura dell’autrice è fluente e piacevole, ma questo romanzo non è alla pari de “La Valle dei Rubini”. Peccato che non possiedo la versione in brossura del 2000 bensi' la ristampa del 2006 con la nuova grafica adottata dalla casa editrice per questa collana (che reputo orrenda).
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews