Description:
A stand-alone companion to two-time Newbery Honor author and national bestseller Kevin Henkes's award-winning and acclaimed novel The Year of Billy Miller. Poppy stars Billy and Sal's youngest sister as she faces a perfectly imperfect Thanksgiving with her family. For fans of Ramona, The Penderwicks, and The Melendy Quartet. Illustrated in black-and-white throughout by the author.
It's almost Thanksgiving, and Poppy is excited. After all, Thanksgiving means the people she loves most will be gathered together. If only things didn't feel so different. Billy, home from college, has a beard; Sal is moodier than ever; and Mama is so distracted! And Poppy still doesn't know what to do for her language arts assignment.
Poppy is a bittersweet, thematically rich, emotionally complex younger middle grade novel about growing up, adjusting to change, and unconditional love. Complete with sibling squabbles, gingko trees, blue hair dye, and lots of hot cocoa and humor, celebrated author Kevin Henkes delivers a winning conclusion to the Miller Family sequence.
Poppy is the fifth and final stand-alone book about the Miller family. It includes black-and-white illustrations by Kevin Henkes on almost every page and is an excellent choice for early elementary grades, for readers ready for a short novel, and for family and classroom read-alouds.
Brief description:
Kevin Henkes has been praised both as a writer and as an illustrator and is the recipient of the Children's Literature Legacy Award for his lasting contribution to literature for children. He received the Caldecott Medal for Kitten's First Full Moon; Caldecott Honors for Waiting and Owen; Newbery Honors for Olive's Ocean and The Year of Billy Miller; and Geisel Honors for Waiting and Penny and Her Marble. His other books include Is It Spring?, The World and Everything in It, A House, A Parade of Elephants, Chrysanthemum, and the beloved Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. Kevin Henkes lives with his family in Madison, Wisconsin.
Review Quotes:
"Unfailingly tender. A welcome return to a loving household where loss and change are no match for sweet words and wisdom." - Kirkus Reviews
"Few fiction writers have captured the subtle differences between people and characters at different ages as Henkes and few have written such absorbing stories about their characters as children, tweens, teens, and young adults." - ALA Booklist