Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Scholastic Inc.
Pages
247
Description
Twelve-year-old Raine spends the summer at a mysterious artists colony and discovers a secret about her past.
Description
A perfect summer read set in a mysterious artists' estate in the idyllic Midwestern countryside
It's the summer before seventh grade, and twelve-year-old Raine O'Rourke's mother takes a sudden job at Sparrow Road--a dilapidated mansion that houses a group of eccentric artists. While Raine's mother works as the cook and housekeeper, Raine is left to figure out why she and her mother have really come to Sparrow Road. Secrets seem to be everywhere, but it's an unexpected secret from Raine's own life--the reason she's come to Sparrow Road--that changes her forever.
An affecting and beautifully written story of family and forgiveness, Sparrow Road is a perfect pick for the middle-grade set.
It's the summer before seventh grade, and twelve-year-old Raine O'Rourke's mother takes a sudden job at Sparrow Road--a dilapidated mansion that houses a group of eccentric artists. While Raine's mother works as the cook and housekeeper, Raine is left to figure out why she and her mother have really come to Sparrow Road. Secrets seem to be everywhere, but it's an unexpected secret from Raine's own life--the reason she's come to Sparrow Road--that changes her forever.
An affecting and beautifully written story of family and forgiveness, Sparrow Road is a perfect pick for the middle-grade set.
Collection
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2011-05-12
Physical description
247 p.; 7.6 inches
ISBN
0545497760 / 9780545497763
Similar in this library
Pie by Sarah Weeks
Lexile
530L
User reviews
LibraryThing member gladeslibrarian
The first day of summer holds such promise. For 12-year-old Raine O’Rourke that includes stacking shelves at Grandpa Mac’s store, playing chess with Grandpa’s best friend and eating all the popsicles and candy she wants. That’s how Raine expects to spend this summer too. Instead, she finds
Sparrow Road seems to be a summer camp, of sorts, for adults who want to get away from their regular jobs to concentrate on creative projects. Lillian writes poetry. Josie makes assorted things out of fabric scraps. Diego likes to use odds and ends in his artwork and Eleanor is a writer. As soon as they arrive at Sparrow Road, the owner sternly warns Raine not to disturb anyone. Viktor definitely did not make her feel welcome.
Raine knows her mom’s hiding something. Why are they really at Sparrow Road? Raine is determined to find the truth. As the days pass, she finds more questions than answers. There are so many mysteries at Sparrow Road. When the biggest secret comes out it will change Raine’s life forever.
O’Connor’s use of descriptive language brings Raine’s world alive. The reader can smell the fish in the lake, the rotten apples in the breeze and the musty blankets in the attic. There is adventure in the air. Her characters are authentic. Each one brings an essential ingredient to aid Raine on her journey. Her story reminds me of a fragrance – Sweet Honesty. It was my favorite at Raine’s age. Sparrow Road is sweet, honest and full of hope. It’s a perfect read for the first day of summer.
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herself far from Milwaukee. All of a sudden, her mom decides to take a summer job as a cook at an old mansion in the country. There goes Raine’s hope for a fun summer.Sparrow Road seems to be a summer camp, of sorts, for adults who want to get away from their regular jobs to concentrate on creative projects. Lillian writes poetry. Josie makes assorted things out of fabric scraps. Diego likes to use odds and ends in his artwork and Eleanor is a writer. As soon as they arrive at Sparrow Road, the owner sternly warns Raine not to disturb anyone. Viktor definitely did not make her feel welcome.
Raine knows her mom’s hiding something. Why are they really at Sparrow Road? Raine is determined to find the truth. As the days pass, she finds more questions than answers. There are so many mysteries at Sparrow Road. When the biggest secret comes out it will change Raine’s life forever.
O’Connor’s use of descriptive language brings Raine’s world alive. The reader can smell the fish in the lake, the rotten apples in the breeze and the musty blankets in the attic. There is adventure in the air. Her characters are authentic. Each one brings an essential ingredient to aid Raine on her journey. Her story reminds me of a fragrance – Sweet Honesty. It was my favorite at Raine’s age. Sparrow Road is sweet, honest and full of hope. It’s a perfect read for the first day of summer.
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LibraryThing member flashlight_reader
: Upon her arrival at Sparrow Road, Raine is greeted by Viktor, the elderly recluse and owner of the sprawling estate. She is also met by his rules for living at Sparrow Road: Do not disturb the artists and no talking until dinner every day of the week, except for Sundays. For a twelve-year-old
When Raine finds a drawing of Sparrow Road in the winter time, hidden in the attic of the old house, she is instantly drawn to the mystery that surrounds her summer home. Diego encourages her to find and write the story behind the picture from the attic signed by twelve-year-old Lyman, an orphan living in the house many years ago. By asking “what was or what could be,” Raine begins to write Lyman’s story. What she doesn’t realize is that she is also writing her own in the process.
The characters in Sparrow Road are fantastic. You can picture Josie with her “rainbow colored hair” and patchwork dresses. Lillian’s frailty and age becomes evident through the description of her skin feeling “like a well worn bed sheet.” The physical descriptions of the characters match the personality that is penned for each within the pages of the novel. The author, Sheila O’Conner, does a brilliant job of mixing lively characters with beautiful descriptive language. I fell in love with each and every character, especially Raine. She was wise beyond her twelve years and the (physical) bond that brought her family together.
The stories that entwine at Sparrow Road are not always pleasant stories. There is a considerable degree of sadness that marks the lives of the characters in the story. However, there is a constant reminder of hope—like the charm Raine wears around her neck—that lingers in their lives as well. Sparrow Road is a layered tale of friendship, forgiveness, and what it means to be a family.
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girl that has been mysteriously pulled from her home in Milwaukee, these rules are hard to accept. Luckily for Raine, Sparrow Road is full of very colorful characters to keep her company. Josie is eccentric and full of energy; an instant favorite of Raine. Lillian is an elderly woman full of kindness and love that helps Raine overcome her homesickness. Then there is Diego. Raine imagines Diego as the father that she never had. His laugh can fill an entire room, and his warm, gentle spirit can calm the roughest of seas. When Raine finds a drawing of Sparrow Road in the winter time, hidden in the attic of the old house, she is instantly drawn to the mystery that surrounds her summer home. Diego encourages her to find and write the story behind the picture from the attic signed by twelve-year-old Lyman, an orphan living in the house many years ago. By asking “what was or what could be,” Raine begins to write Lyman’s story. What she doesn’t realize is that she is also writing her own in the process.
The characters in Sparrow Road are fantastic. You can picture Josie with her “rainbow colored hair” and patchwork dresses. Lillian’s frailty and age becomes evident through the description of her skin feeling “like a well worn bed sheet.” The physical descriptions of the characters match the personality that is penned for each within the pages of the novel. The author, Sheila O’Conner, does a brilliant job of mixing lively characters with beautiful descriptive language. I fell in love with each and every character, especially Raine. She was wise beyond her twelve years and the (physical) bond that brought her family together.
The stories that entwine at Sparrow Road are not always pleasant stories. There is a considerable degree of sadness that marks the lives of the characters in the story. However, there is a constant reminder of hope—like the charm Raine wears around her neck—that lingers in their lives as well. Sparrow Road is a layered tale of friendship, forgiveness, and what it means to be a family.
Show Less
LibraryThing member yourotherleft
When Raine O'Rourke finds out her mother has signed her up for a summer at a ramshackle old mansion called Sparrow Road, she's desperate to escape. Raine can hardly believe that she's being forced to give up a summer with her beloved Grandpa Mac at his store in Milwaukee to spend long days in a
You can see, taste, and feel O'Connor's idyllic country summer at Sparrow Road. The long, silent days filled with mysteries and dreams stretch out like magic luring readers into Raine's journey of imagination and self-discovery. The surreal, almost dreamlike quality of a summer at Sparrow Road balances a story filled with unpleasant truths about lives lived at a former orphanage and Raine's own troubled past.
Let's just get to the point, though. I loved Sparrow Road. It's not surprising that you can often expect that the younger an audience a book is aimed at the more things like character development get neglected in favor of action. Not so with Sparrow Road. These characters leap off the page. Raine is a vivid protagonist coming to terms with family secrets. Her mother is a steady presence who wants to do the right thing but is still working out just what that is. The artists aren't the dark and broody sort, but the sort that burst off the page with their uniqueness and the joy they find in the act of creating. Josie, Diego, and even slightly loopy Lillian all do their part showing Raine how to get in touch with the art that's inside of her.
Even though O'Connor doesn't scrimp on her characters, there is still plenty of action to keep the pages turning as mysteries unfold and still other characters reveal themselves to be more than they seem. O'Connor skillfully weaves clues into her story keeping readers hungry for more. Sparrow Road is, above all, a satisfying read, filled with love and committed to revealing the ghosts of the past. It is the kind of book I would have loved as a kid and a book that I love now, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to both the young and the young at heart.
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mysterious country mansion while her mom cooks and cleans for a bunch of live-in artists. Even worse, the artists demand silence which means, no TV, no radio, no talking. What good could come of a summer spent like that? More good than Raine could ever have expected, as it turns out. You can see, taste, and feel O'Connor's idyllic country summer at Sparrow Road. The long, silent days filled with mysteries and dreams stretch out like magic luring readers into Raine's journey of imagination and self-discovery. The surreal, almost dreamlike quality of a summer at Sparrow Road balances a story filled with unpleasant truths about lives lived at a former orphanage and Raine's own troubled past.
Let's just get to the point, though. I loved Sparrow Road. It's not surprising that you can often expect that the younger an audience a book is aimed at the more things like character development get neglected in favor of action. Not so with Sparrow Road. These characters leap off the page. Raine is a vivid protagonist coming to terms with family secrets. Her mother is a steady presence who wants to do the right thing but is still working out just what that is. The artists aren't the dark and broody sort, but the sort that burst off the page with their uniqueness and the joy they find in the act of creating. Josie, Diego, and even slightly loopy Lillian all do their part showing Raine how to get in touch with the art that's inside of her.
Even though O'Connor doesn't scrimp on her characters, there is still plenty of action to keep the pages turning as mysteries unfold and still other characters reveal themselves to be more than they seem. O'Connor skillfully weaves clues into her story keeping readers hungry for more. Sparrow Road is, above all, a satisfying read, filled with love and committed to revealing the ghosts of the past. It is the kind of book I would have loved as a kid and a book that I love now, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to both the young and the young at heart.
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LibraryThing member bnbookgirl
Wonderful book for girls. The protagonist has to spend the summer at a remote artist camp where her mother has taken a job as the cook. She does not want to got, but once she gets there, things turn quite interesting. She meets a handful of quirky characters to come to life through the authors
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great descriptions. She will also meet a stranger who will change her life. Great scenery descriptions and great characters. Show Less
LibraryThing member booktwirps
Twelve-year-old Raine is not happy. Her mother just took a summer job at an artist’s sanctuary called Sparrow Road and she’s forcing Raine to go with her. Raine would rather stay in Milwaukee with her Grandpa Mac, working in his store and eating all the candy she can get her hands on. It’s
I fell in love with this book from the very first page. The prose is fluid and very descriptive. Every scene is painted so vividly I felt as if I was there. The characters are all very well drawn and realistic and the story itself is filled with the right amount of humor, mischief, mystery and hope to keep the reader wanting more. The story is told from Rainne’s point-of-view, but the rest of the characters are just as colorful and very important in moving the story forward. Though the novel is geared toward middle-grade readers, adults and young adults alike will find much to love in Ms. O’Connor’s story of family, self-discovery and forgiveness. This is the perfect book to take to the beach, or to curl up with under a tree this summer.
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always been that way, and she doesn’t understand why it has to change now. To make matters worse, Sparrow Road has all sorts of rules, the worst being that you are not allowed to talk except for after dinner and on Sundays. As soon as Rainne arrives, she is devising an escape plan. Surely her mother won’t make her stay here all summer. Maybe she can convince Grandpa Mac to come get her. As Rainne settles in at Sparrow Road, she gets to know some of the quirky artists and writers that reside there, and she begins tapping into some of her own unknown talents. She also learns that Sparrow Road used to be an orphanage and there are many secrets waiting to be discovered. As the days pass, and Rainne settles in with the artists, a number of things begin taking place that Rainne doesn’t understand. Why does she get the feeling that her mother knows Viktor, the caretaker, better than she lets on? Why is Rainne not allowed to go into town with her mother when she runs errands? Why do the residents of Sparrow Road still talk about the orphans that used to live there as if they still exist? As the summer progresses, Rainne will uncover the answers to these questions, and some of them will change her life forever.I fell in love with this book from the very first page. The prose is fluid and very descriptive. Every scene is painted so vividly I felt as if I was there. The characters are all very well drawn and realistic and the story itself is filled with the right amount of humor, mischief, mystery and hope to keep the reader wanting more. The story is told from Rainne’s point-of-view, but the rest of the characters are just as colorful and very important in moving the story forward. Though the novel is geared toward middle-grade readers, adults and young adults alike will find much to love in Ms. O’Connor’s story of family, self-discovery and forgiveness. This is the perfect book to take to the beach, or to curl up with under a tree this summer.
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LibraryThing member YABliss
This was deliciously vivid in its narration and unbelievably rich in its prose. I loved the writing and felt fully engaged with the story and the main character, from the beginning. I loved the way the story flows so easily and you can picture everything, specially the setting, with all the
Raine's voice was unique and sounded almost like a song to my ears. The dreamy fog that envelops the whole book was something I don't think I had ever experienced before. Everything feels touched by magic, spellbinding somehow, even though it's realistic fiction. Raine writes stories, and the absolutely brilliant-magical way that the author conveys the writing process was amazing. I also LOVE the cover!!! Who wouldn't want to read such a pretty-looking book at that age?
I believe this is an excellent book for middle grade readers and I'm sure many cross-overs like me, will definitely enjoy it as well.
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fantastic descriptions. It's a story about forgiveness and second chances. About understanding things and accepting them. About understanding people and accepting them. Such great concepts for young readers!Raine's voice was unique and sounded almost like a song to my ears. The dreamy fog that envelops the whole book was something I don't think I had ever experienced before. Everything feels touched by magic, spellbinding somehow, even though it's realistic fiction. Raine writes stories, and the absolutely brilliant-magical way that the author conveys the writing process was amazing. I also LOVE the cover!!! Who wouldn't want to read such a pretty-looking book at that age?
I believe this is an excellent book for middle grade readers and I'm sure many cross-overs like me, will definitely enjoy it as well.
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LibraryThing member donnagalanti
I wish I could give this book a "blizzard of stars".
If there is one book you read this summer. This is it. This is the book that made me fall in love with reading again. 12-year-old Raine has an unexpected summer that at first she resists and as she transforms, and the people she meets transforms -
I read this coming-of-age book every free chance I got over two days. It is so beautifully written, like riding a slow, golden wave that builds and builds and covers all in its beauty to rest finally at a peaceful shore. O'Connor creates such an amazing scene and set of so many characters with such sparse, poetic prose. It's written in the first person, which I usually don't enjoy, but this is written so elegantly it FEELS like third person as we see and feel how all the characters are thru Raine's eyes and heart.
It's a book about searching for something you don't know. It's about love, hope, redemption, getting left behind - and doing the leaving yourself when ready. I cried three times reading this book. I flipped back to pages to re-read the scenes that painted my heart with wonder and feeling.
Don't miss out on this book. I can't wait to read more of O'Connor's books.
If there is one book you read this summer. This is it. This is the book that made me fall in love with reading again. 12-year-old Raine has an unexpected summer that at first she resists and as she transforms, and the people she meets transforms -
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it changes her life forever.I read this coming-of-age book every free chance I got over two days. It is so beautifully written, like riding a slow, golden wave that builds and builds and covers all in its beauty to rest finally at a peaceful shore. O'Connor creates such an amazing scene and set of so many characters with such sparse, poetic prose. It's written in the first person, which I usually don't enjoy, but this is written so elegantly it FEELS like third person as we see and feel how all the characters are thru Raine's eyes and heart.
It's a book about searching for something you don't know. It's about love, hope, redemption, getting left behind - and doing the leaving yourself when ready. I cried three times reading this book. I flipped back to pages to re-read the scenes that painted my heart with wonder and feeling.
Don't miss out on this book. I can't wait to read more of O'Connor's books.
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LibraryThing member Sullywriter
An engaging story with a vivid sense of place that insightfully explores family bonds, relationships, and growing up.
LibraryThing member ElizabethAndrew
Wanted to like this book better than I did. A young girl spends the summer at an artists' colony, housed in a former orphanage, and finally meets her delinquent dad. I liked the wholesome qualities of the story--lots of forgiveness, creativity, and community celebration--but found the plot
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contrived, hinging mostly on a mother unwilling to tell her daughter information, and the characters too good. Show Less
LibraryThing member fingerpost
Raine O'Rourke and her mother move to an odd artist's colony, Sparrow Road, for the summer. Her mother will be the cook. But Raine quickly realizes that her mother had some sort of ulterior motive for taking this job. The man who runs Sparrow Road is silent, brooding, and seems to know her mother
But the main purpose was to give Raine the opportunity to meet her father... a man whose name she has never even been told.
Raine's narration frequently had the voice of a girl several years older than her 12-year-old persona. I often found myself picturing her as a high school age girl instead of a preteen. The orphanage story never seemed to completely meld with the Raine-meeting-her-father story. Still, well told, with a variety of interesting and eclectic characters... mostly likable ones.
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very well. One of the artists seems to have a touch of dementia, and is constantly worried about "the children." But the main purpose was to give Raine the opportunity to meet her father... a man whose name she has never even been told.
Raine's narration frequently had the voice of a girl several years older than her 12-year-old persona. I often found myself picturing her as a high school age girl instead of a preteen. The orphanage story never seemed to completely meld with the Raine-meeting-her-father story. Still, well told, with a variety of interesting and eclectic characters... mostly likable ones.
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Awards
Triple Crown Awards (Nominee — 2014)
Mark Twain Readers Award (Nominee — 2014)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Kids (Fiction for Older Readers — 2011)
Call number
J4D.OCo