November Note from the Library
Greetings from Nowhere is a new intermediate novel set in the Great Smokey Mountains. Aggie and her cat Ugly are having a difficult time running the Sleepy Time Motel since Aggie’s husband Harold died. No one has booked a room in months, the pool is empty, the light is out on the motel sign and Aggie doesn’t know how much longer she can run the motel. She doesn’t want to sell the place and move, but she realizes she doesn’t have any choice.
Willow’s dad has decided that he and Willow need to move and leave their old life behind and create a new life, since Willow’s mother has moved away. He sees a “for sale” ad in the newspaper for a motel and he decides to buy it without even looking at it. Willow doesn’t want to move. If her mother decided to write her, how will she know the address. When they arrive at the Sleepy Time Motel, Willow hates the deserted looking place at first. After Aggie and Ugly become her friends, she tries to convince her dad to let Aggie stay on and help run the motel.
Kirby and Loretta are two other intermediate age characters that end up at the motel the same time as Willow and her father. Kirby’s mother is on her way to take him to live with his dad, she can’t handle him anymore, when her car breaks down. They take a room at the motel and stay until Kirby’s dad can send money.
Loretta and her loving adoptive parents are on a trip honoring the memory of her dead natural mother. Loretta had never heard from her natural mother until she dies, and Loretta receives a box with mementos, including a charm bracelet with charms from tourist sites. They decide to visit these places and use the motel as their place to stay while they go on day trips in the surrounding area.
Thge characters have alternating chapters telling their story and there are chapters of how they interact with each other. Three kids with different issues, an old lady with gumption, all eventually befriending each other and working together to help with adjustments and issues, and all growing in the process.
Aggie sums up life pretty well when she says, “Well, you know, life marches on. And sometimes we have to join the parade whether we want to or not.”
This was an uplifting story with wonderful believable characters that you feel you have probably met sometime in your life.
O’Connor, Barbara. GREETINGS FROM NOWHERE. New York: Farrar, Straus and Girous, 2008. ISBN: 13:978-0-374-39937-5.
Fourth Grade Tribute
Maplewood Elementary 4th grade is honoring local veterans with a Veteran’s Day Tribute on November 11, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. The program, directed by Mrs. Wilkinson, will be held in the Elementary auditorium. The 4th grade has prepared three songs to sing for the veteran’s and family members.
One of their favorite parts of the program was learning sign language to use with the song “Still In My Heart.” Several students commented, “this is going to make my grandma cry.” It is truly moving to watch 81 students sing and sign to the words “still in my heart, forever!”
The program will also include several students sharing a VETERAN acrostic poem they created. We will be joined by VFW Post 5958 to present our Nation’s colors and Mr. Cokain will be entertaining both students and community with the song “There She Stands.” The program will close with Zac Eimer and Jared Peters, both 6th grade band members, playing “Taps.”
The reception following the program will allow students the opportunity to talk to local veterans about their service. Students have truly gotten a deeper appreciation for all of the men and women who have sacrificed and bravely served our country.
The Meadville Tribune website had the following slideshow: Veterans Day Observances
