2021
272 pgs.
Mid Grade CRF
Finished 7/27/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.29 - 243 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary CT, with a small part at the beginning in the wilderness/boonies of AK
272 pgs.
Mid Grade CRF
Finished 7/27/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.29 - 243 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary CT, with a small part at the beginning in the wilderness/boonies of AK
First line/s: "Rigel put the tip of the hunting knife into the hare's belly and made a careful slit."
My comments: After spending her entire life in the middle-of-nowhere "bush" in Alaska, 11 year-old Rigel - pronounced RYE/JILL, is forced to move to Connecticut with her mom and two sister, five and 14 years old, leaving her dad, Bear, in Alaska. She doesn't want to go, she's never left her home in the middle of nowhere and really, really loves it there. So this story is the story of the following year in Connecticut, all the changes she has to adapt to, bullies and no friends and not enough nature and coming to love a crow she names Blueberry. And of course she ends up making wonderful friends, finding the nature she needs, and adapting. We get to know the diverse personalities of her wonderful family member, too. This is a wonderful story with lots and lots to sink your teeth into.
Goodreads synopsis: A thoughtful middle-grade debut about a girl from off-the-grid Alaska adjusting to suburban life
Eleven-year-old Rigel Harman loves her life in off-the-grid Alaska. She hunts rabbits, takes correspondence classes through the mail, and plays dominoes with her family in their two-room cabin. She doesn’t mind not having electricity or running water—instead, she’s got tall trees, fresh streams, and endless sky.
But then her parents divorce, and Rigel and her sisters have to move with their mom to the Connecticut suburbs to live with a grandmother they’ve never met. Rigel hates it in Connecticut. It’s noisy, and crowded, and there’s no real nature. Her only hope is a secret pact that she made with her father: If she can stick it out in Connecticut for one year, he’ll bring her back home.
At first, surviving the year feels impossible. Middle school is nothing like the wilderness, and she doesn’t connect with anyone . . . until she befriends a crow living behind her school. And if this wild creature has made a life for itself in the suburbs, then, just maybe, Rigel can too.
365 Days to Alaska is a wise and funny debut novel about finding beauty, hope, and connection in the world no matter where you are—even Connecticut.
Eleven-year-old Rigel Harman loves her life in off-the-grid Alaska. She hunts rabbits, takes correspondence classes through the mail, and plays dominoes with her family in their two-room cabin. She doesn’t mind not having electricity or running water—instead, she’s got tall trees, fresh streams, and endless sky.
But then her parents divorce, and Rigel and her sisters have to move with their mom to the Connecticut suburbs to live with a grandmother they’ve never met. Rigel hates it in Connecticut. It’s noisy, and crowded, and there’s no real nature. Her only hope is a secret pact that she made with her father: If she can stick it out in Connecticut for one year, he’ll bring her back home.
At first, surviving the year feels impossible. Middle school is nothing like the wilderness, and she doesn’t connect with anyone . . . until she befriends a crow living behind her school. And if this wild creature has made a life for itself in the suburbs, then, just maybe, Rigel can too.
365 Days to Alaska is a wise and funny debut novel about finding beauty, hope, and connection in the world no matter where you are—even Connecticut.
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