Seven Spools of Thread by Angela Shelf Medearis

Then a string of mishaps darkens Nim’s sunny skies: her father loses rudder and dish antenna in a storm a tourist ship that was involved in her mother’s death appears off the island’s reefs and, running down a volcanic slope, Nim takes a nasty spill that leaves her feverish, with an infected knee. Not only does she have constant companions in Selkie, a sea lion, and a marine iguana named Fred, but Chica, a green turtle, has just arrived for an annual egg-laying-and, through the solar-powered laptop, she has even made a new e-mail friend in famed adventure novelist Alex Rover. Though her mother is long dead and her scientist father Jack has just sailed off on a quick expedition to gather plankton, Nim is anything but lonely on her small island home. 10-12)Ī child finds that being alone in a tiny tropical paradise has its ups and downs in this appealingly offbeat tale from the Australian author of Peeling the Onion (1999).

Warn all but intrepid readers not to start on this collection after sundown. Hyman departs from her exacting style to illustrate each tale with a sweeping, less-controlled black-and-white scene shadows look muddy, but the pop-eyed faces and theatrical gestures are suitably dramatic. Chester' to come down the chimney-piecemeal. Medearis (Treemonisha, 1995, etc.) makes careful additions to five goosebump-raising tales, which are all either set in rural Texas or have a Southern flavor: A widow's moldering husband rises again for one 'Last Dance at the Dew Drop Inn' with the help of a mysterious dog, Lilly rescues her brother Freeson from the weirdly compelling 'Fiddler Man' an encounter with a headless horseman leaves two sisters 'Scared Silly' and a drought-stricken small town gets more water than it bargains for from 'The Rainmaker.' In the final story a skeptical clergyman spends a terrifying night with a roomful of talking cats while 'Waiting for Mr.

Seven Spools of Thread by Angela Shelf Medearis