Secret Writing Lives of Professors
I grew up in a town with two colleges, where academia ruled. So I get a special kick out of an author like Anne Nesbet (and Katherine Rundell)—professors with not-so-secret lives as a successful storybook writers.
Acclaimed author of middle-grade novels, Anne Nesbet is an associate professor at the University of California, Berkley. I recommended another of Anne’s books: The Wrinkled Crown on this blog. If you didn’t catch that recommendation, click here.
Anne Nesbet Scores Again
This time with a very different book: The Orphan Band of Springdale.
Per the Author’s Note:
“There are stories that come from the heart, and stories that spring from the very bones that give us form. The Orphan Band of Springdale is one of those bone-marrow tales. It is my echo of a story that I wish my mother had been able to finish telling me—the story of her childhood, which was so hardscrabble and tough that she could only bear to give us scraps and pieces of it when we were little.”
Book Jacket Summary:
“When she arrives at her grandmother’s orphanage with little more than a French horn and all that’s left of a broken wish, eleven-year-old Augusta ‘Gusta’ Neubronner steps right into what her German-born father likes to call the clear light of trouble. Papa is a fugitive from the law, times are too tough in New York for her mother to keep her, and the Second World War is already looming on the horizon.
Gusta has to learn to bravely stand up to classmates’ suspicions of her un-American last name, to eye charts, and even to the villainous owner of the local mill. When she stumbles onto family secrets, Gusta must try her best to put things right—and to convince her grandma that music can be ‘real as jam.’ Sometimes it takes a whole orphan band to help a girl find her voice and her place in the world.”
What I Loved:
This book has so many themes from my own life—themes I care about: finding one’s place, underdog girl heroes, outsider struggles (Gusta has moved more times than she can count), love of music, difficulty expressing herself, glasses that set her apart, a deep desire for friends and for family.
Read-Aloud Winner
Containing the magic of family, history, music and heart, The Orphan Band of Springdale by Anne Nesbet will move all who read it—so reading it aloud and sharing the story is even better! Skedaddle down to your library and put this one on hold. See for yourself how Anne Nesbet scores again!