Michelle Mulder

This middle grade novel captured my attention from the beginning and held my interest to the end. Chloe, the 13-year-old protagonist, was an intriguing character. Thrust into a difficult situation when her parents split, she moves from Montreal to Victoria to live with her father. There she meets Uli, her paternal grandfather, a passionate gardener on a mission to save heritage plants.
Torn between the past and the present, Chloe struggles to understand the difficult relationship between her father and grandfather, all the while trying to honor her grandfather’s legacy. Even though her own life is in turmoil, Chloe doesn’t carry bitterness into each scene. Instead, she rises above it and gives young readers a role model to emulate.

The language is simple – no fancy sentences or difficult words – yet the author, Michelle Mulder, manages to layer the story, add complexity to the plot, and give depth to her characters. Even minor characters were interesting and well rounded. I particularly liked Nikko who was quirky but had interesting views and provided the story with touches of humour. I also liked the positive mindset of Chloe’s parents. Even though they are divorcing, they maintain respect for each other, and try to work through their problems.

I learned new things along the way: heirloom plants, Quakers, yarn bombs, and some of the key differences between living in Victoria vs Montreal. I hadn’t heard of seed libraries before, and now that I have, I am intrigued.

The ending, when it came seemed, seemed a bit sudden. Also, spoiler alert, what was in the red box? Unless, I missed something, I don't think I ever found out. But, all in all, I really enjoyed this book and believe middle grade readers would as well.… (mais)

A solid novel about family and community, which offers plenty of scope for discussion on environmental themes.

Uprooted from her life in Montreal, Chloe is unhappy about being dragged to Victoria by her father and separated from her mother. But she quickly bonds with her grandfather, whose stroke was the reason for the move. When he suffers a second stroke, she becomes obsessed with finding his collection of heirloom seeds. The supporting characters are charming although the narrator herself feels under-developed and the pacing, which is solid for most of the tale, falters at the end with an abbreviated solution to the problem and too rapid a resolution. The parents marital problems are very believable and add dimension to this simple story.

Many thanks to Orca Book Publishers for the advance reading copy.… (mais)

Every Last Drop: Bringing Clean Water Home uses photographs instead of illustrations. It talks about why Earth's resources are at risk and how that affects specific communities across the world. I chose this book to tie to the NGSS standard about the Earth's Systems that asks students to describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth. I think this book ties humanity to Earth's functions very well and allows students to see the true impact of what they are learning about through the photographs. I think this book would work well in my 5th grade classroom setting.… (mais)