Nightbird

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Bestselling author Alice Hoffman's bewitching Nightbird is perfect for ages 10-13: love and friendship empower a lonely girl to embrace her uniqueness and discover her strengths.

Twig lives in Sidwell, where people whisper that fairy tales are real. After all, her town is rumored to hide a monster. And two hundred years ago, a witch placed a curse on Twig's family that was meant to last forever. But this summer, everything will change when the red moon rises. It's time to break the spell.


Praise
Nominated for:
The Great Stone Face Award (NH)
Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award (Illinois)
The Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (Maryland)

"Hoffman reminds us that there are secrets everywhere . . . Nightbird soars."
-- The New York Times

"Alice Hoffman has a gift for melding magic and realism in a way that makes nearly anything seem possible."
-- Shelf Awareness, Starred

"The mix of romance and magic is irresistible."
-- Kirkus Reviews

What Other Authors Are Saying
"I love the way Alice Hoffman creates the most ordinary people and then turns their lives magical. . . . [ Nightbird ] is like reentering a wonderful dream that you vaguely remember." --Lois Lowry, two-time Newbery Medal-winning author of The Giver

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

You can't believe everything you hear, not even in Sidwell, Massachusetts, where every person is said to tell the truth and the apples are so sweet people come from as far as New York City during the apple festival. There are rumors that a mysterious creature lives in our town. Some people insist it's a bird bigger than an eagle; others say it's a dragon, or an oversized bat that resembles a person. Certainly this being, human or animal or something in between, exists nowhere else in this world. Children whisper that we have a monster in our midst, half man, half myth, and that fairy tales are real in Berkshire County. At the Sidwell General Store and at the gas station tourists can buy T-shirts decorated with a red-eyed winged beast with visit sidwell printed underneath. Every time I see one of these shirts in a shop, I casually drop it into the garbage bin. In my opinion, people should be careful about the stories they tell. All the same, whenever things go missing the monster is blamed. Weekends are the worst times for these odd thefts. Bread deliveries to the Starline Diner are several loaves short of the regular order. Clothes hanging on the line vanish. I know there's no such thing as a monster, but the thief has struck my family, as a matter of fact. One minute there were four pies sitting out on the kitchen counter to cool, and the next minute the back door was left open and one of the pies was missing. An old quilt left out on our porch disappeared one Saturday. There were no footprints on our lawn, but I did have a prickle of fear when I stood at the back door that morning, gazing into the woods. I thought I spied a solitary figure running through a thicket of trees, but it might have only been mist, rising from the ground. No one knows who takes these things, whether pranks are being played, or someone--or something--is truly in need, or if it is the creature that everyone assumes lives within the borders of our town. People in Sidwell argue as much as people do anywhere, but everyone agrees on one thing: Our monster can only be seen at night, and then only if you are standing at your window, or walking on a lane near the orchards, or if you happen to be passing our house. We live on Old Mountain Road, in a farmhouse that is over two hundred years old, with nooks and crannies and three brick fireplaces, all big enough for me to stand in, even though I am tall for twelve. From our front door there's a sweeping view of the woods that contain some of the oldest trees in Massachusetts. Behind us are twenty acres of apple orchards. We grow a special variety called Pink. One of my ancestors planted the first Pink apple tree in Sidwell. Some people say Johnny Appleseed himself, who introduced apple trees all over our country, presented our family with a one-of-a-kind seedling when he wandered through town on his way out west. We make Pink applesauce, Pink apple cake, and two shades of Pink apple pie, light and dark. In the summer, before we have apples, we have Pink peach berry pie, and in the late spring there is Hot-Pink strawberry rhubarb pie, made from fruit grown in the garden behind our house. Rhubarb looks like red celery; it's bitter, but when combined with strawberries it's delicious. I like the idea of something bitter and something sweet mixed together to create something incredible. Maybe that's because I come from a family in which we don't expect each other to be like anyone else. Being unusual is not unusual for the Fowlers. My mother's piecrust is said to be the finest in New England and our Pink cider is famous all over Massachusetts. People come from as far away as Cambridge and Lowell just to try them. We bring most of our pies and cupcakes to be sold at the General Store that's run by Mr. Stern, who can sell as many as my mother can bake. I've always wished that I was more like her instead of my awkward, gawky self. As a girl my mother attended ballet lessons at Miss Ellery's Dance School in town, and she's still graceful, even when she's picking apples or hauling baskets of fruit across the lawn. But my arms and legs are too long, and I tend to stumble over my own feet. The only thing I'm good at is running. And keeping secrets. I'm excellent at that. I've had a lot of practice. My mother has honey-colored hair that she pins up with a silver clip whenever she bakes. My hair is dark; sometimes I don't even know what color it is, a sort of blackish brown, the color of tree bark, or a night that has no stars. It gets so tangled while I'm out in the woods that this year I cut it out of frustration, just hacked at it with a pair of nail scissors, and now it is worse than ever, even though my mother says I look like a pixie. Looking like a pixie was not what I was after. I wanted to look like my mother, who everyone says was the prettiest girl in town when she was my age, and now is the most beautiful woman in the entire county. Excerpted from Nightbird by Alice Hoffman All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Set in a realm where enchantment intermingles with everyday realities, Hoffman's story centers on 12-year-old Twig Fowler, her baker mother, and her older brother, who all keep to themselves in their farmhouse in Sidwell, Mass. Twig's mother is said to have supernatural cooking skills, but the real magic is the curse that hits the males of the Fowler family-they grow wings. Twig's brother, James, flies at night, befriends birds, and no one in town knows he exists because the family fears their reaction. Twig remains friendless until she meets new neighbor Julia Hall and her older sister, who might be able to help reverse the spell plaguing the Fowler family. Reader Lamia has perfected the character of Twig, who sounds shy and youthful as the story unfolds. The adult characters come alive as well, each with such a distinct voice that it's easy to forget there's only one person performing. Between Hoffman's lovely prose and Lamia's terrific performance, this is a delightful audiobook that can be enjoyed by the entire family. Ages 10-up. A Random/Lamb hardcover. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-7-Part modern fairy tale, part mystery, this story is set in a small town where townsfolk believe in unseen monsters who steal from them and a family lives in secret with an ancient curse. Twig Fowler is a lonely girl who is looking for friendship. She and her brother, James, both hope for something magical to happen, a wish that just might come true when a new family moves into the cottage next door. Jenna Lamia does an excellent job of narrating, quite convincingly sounding like a bright, complex, yet forlorn 12-year-old girl. Lamia captures the strange, ethereal essence of the tale and delivers both uncomfortable, sad scenes and tender, touching ones. VERDICT Recommended for middle schoolers looking for a story that sympathizes with adolescent isolation and insecurity, highlighting resilience, courage, and the importance of friendship and family to overcoming them.-Jennifer Mann, Ypsilanti District Library, MI © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Twig and her mom live in tiny Sidwell, a wooded New England town with a witchy history. When her reclusive mom isn't baking one-of-a-kind pies from their orchard's apples, she is concealing Twig's brother, James, who sports a pair of black feathery wings, courtesy of a curse placed on their family by the Sidwell witch centuries ago. Rumors are swirling about the Sidwell Monster, and Twig and her mother fear that James is in danger, since he has been spotted winging around town in the middle of the night. When a new family moves in next door (direct descendants of the witch who cursed Twig's family), Twig cannot resist her new neighbor Julia's friendship, and James cannot resist Julia's enchanting sister, Agate. Soon Twig and her new friend realize that James and Agate are heading down the same path that led Julia's ancestor to curse Twig's, and they set out to undo the curse. Best-selling Hoffman offers a quiet, gentle fantasy where crossroads and moonlight have magical uses, and friendship and determination can heal centuries-old wounds. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With a handful of best-sellers under her belt, it's no surprise that Hoffman's publisher is planning a big campaign for this one, too.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2015 Booklist

Horn Book Review

Twig Fowler and her mother keep to themselves so that their neighbors in Sidwell, Massachusetts, wont discover their secret: Twigs older brother James has wings, thanks to a generations-old curse laid upon all Fowler men by Agnes Early, the Witch of Sidwell. Against their mothers warnings, Twig befriends Julia, a descendent of Agnes Early, and James falls in love with Julias sister Agate, relationships that will ultimately bring secrets to light. Hoffman creates a witchy small-town New England setting but populates it with realistic characters such as twelve-year-old Twig, who desperately wants a friend. Twigs entirely mundane broken arm, incurred in a fall from a tree, contrasts nicely with Jamess wings, which allow him to fly but keep him from living a normal life. The tone, mystical but not too dark, makes this a good choice for readers who want to imagine just a bit of magic in their lives. shoshana flax (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

There's a monster in Sidwell, Massachusetts, that can only be seen at night or, as Twig reveals, if passersby are near her house. It's her older brother, James, born with wings just like every male in the Fowler line for the last 200 years. They were cursed by the Witch of Sidwell, left brokenhearted by their forebear Lowell Fowler. Twig and James are tired of the secret and self-imposed isolation. Lonely Twig narrates, bringing the small town and its characters to life, intertwining events present and past, and describing the effects of the spell on her fractured family's daily life. Longing for some normalcy and companionship, she befriends new-neighbor Julia while James falls in love with Julia's sister, Agateonly to learn they are descendants of the Witch. James and Agate seem as star-crossed as their ancestors, especially when the townspeople attribute a spate of petty thefts and graffiti protesting the development of the woods to the monster and launch a hunt. The mix of romance and magic is irresistible and the tension, compelling. With the help of friends and through a series of self-realizations and discoveries, Twig grows more self-assured. She is certain she knows how to change the curse. In so doing, Twig not only changes James' fate, but her own, for the first time feeling the fullness of family, friends and hope for the future. Enchanting. (Magical realism. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.