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Carlie Sorosiak writes books about magical summer camps, missing people, and the inner life of dogs. She grew up in North Carolina and has an American dingo (Google it!) who is her writing companion (but she doesn’t let her type on the keyboard!). By day, she’s a creative writing professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta.
October 2021 Book of the Month | A guide to being the best – and happiest – person you can possibly be, this book takes a highly original approach and advises readers to learn lessons from animals. Author Carlie Sorosiak has gathered lots of examples of animal behaviour that demonstrate the importance of being yourself, of being brave, finding friends, being resilient. These range from meerkats who stop bullying and stand up for one another to wombats who shared their burrows with other animals during Australia’s bushfires. A particularly effective example is that of a racoon stuck in a storm drain for hours before eventually being released – the moral: all this will pass. It’s quirky, absorbing and enticingly do-able while Sorosiak’s cheerful, positive approach sets the perfect tone. Full of warmth and wisdom, this is a book to recommend to stressed young people.
Leonard looks like a cat, sounds like a cat and – in lots of ways – behaves like a cat. But Leonard is an alien, an alien who has arrived in the wrong body for a trip to Earth – he was meant to be a Yellowstone Park ranger - and needs to get home. Fortunately, he’s adopted by just about the only human on our planet who can save him. Olive is a young girl, also far from home and lonely. The two form a special friendship and, with the help of two amiable if eccentric grown-ups, embark on an amazing journey of adventure and discovery. Leonard might not get to tick off all the human activities on his to do list – one of which is the ‘preparation and consumption of a cheese sandwich’ – but he and Olive learn the most important things there are to being human, to being alive. It’s a story filled with wonder, but truths too, is often funny, sometimes tense, always enjoyable and has important things to say about home and where we can find it. Readers who love Leonard – and lots will – should also read Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s alien adventure Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth.
Wise, funny, and filled with warmth and heart, this is Charlotte's Web meets Little Miss Sunshine: a moving, beautiful story, with a wonderfully unique hero, from an incredible new voice in middle grade fiction - perfect for fans of Rebecca Stead and Kate DiCamillo.
In the summer we all fell in love By the winter we had fallen apart For Quinn and her sister, Fern, and brother, Reed, summer means working as counselors at their family's summer camp: months of bonfires, bunks, and friendships made and broken. But last summer was different. Last summer they all fell in love with the same boy - Dylan, their best friend since forever, suddenly seen through new eyes. Six months later and everything has changed. The summer camp is empty and covered in snow, and Quinn, Fern and Reed aren't speaking to each other anymore. Something happened that summer that tore them apart, and their memories won't let them forgive. Wild Blue Wonder is the gorgeous, achingly beautiful novel from Carlie Sorosiak, author of If Birds Fly Back.
June 2017 Debut of the Month | Captivating and compassionate debut in which two endearingly quirky teenagers find love - and themselves - through their search for missing family members. Since the disappearance of her sister, aspiring filmmaker Linny has been “living in black and white”, and become obsessed with disappearances more generally, including that of cult Cuban novelist and filmmaker, Alvaro Herrera. After going missing three years ago, Alvero has resurfaced in a Miami nursing home, and so Linny volunteers there, hoping that figuring out the reason for his disappearance will help her work out if her sister will ever return. Aspiring astrophysicist Sebastian is searching for someone too, for the father who abandoned him, and he wants answers. But, as he and Linny get to know Alvero, time might be running out. Linny and Sebastian’s relationship is evoked with heart and humour, in all its wonder and adorable awkwardness, and the motif of feeling trapped, like a tethered bird that’s unable to fly, is nicely interwoven. There are plenty of pulse-quickening twists and turns to keep readers turning the pages, along with a whole lot of uplifting warmth.
