  | Shadow collector's apprentice Author: Gordon, Amy | |
| Price: $6.50 | ||
Summary:
In the summer of 1963, after his father has inexplicably disappeared leaving Cully with his three eccentric aunts on their barely profitable apple farm, Cully goes to work for a mysterious antiques dealer who has the strange hobby of collecting shadows.
Download a Teacher's Guide
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 5.10 Points: 8.0 Quiz: 151734 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: 6-8 Reading Level: 5.20 Points: 14.0 Quiz: 56871 | |
Reviews:
School Library Journal (00/04/12)
Booklist (04/01/12)
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 04/01/2012 Gr 5–8—In 1963, there is something strange happening in the small rural town of Medley. Following the mysterious disappearance of his father, 12-year-old Cully Pennyacre takes a job as apprentice to Batty Bates, the owner of an antique store. He is a man with a very peculiar hobby: he collects shadows. Cully also finds that the back room of Batty's Attic holds more than just shadow-collecting equipment. Housed within is a secret so devastating to Cully that he risks everything his family has to learn the truth. With the help of Batty's granddaughter Isabel, a dog called Fitz, and his extremely eccentric trio of aunts (Opalescence, Incandescence, and Miggs), Cully embarks on a quest to find his father and restore order to Medley. The novel is well thought out and readers will find themselves sharing Cully's determination to find the truth at any cost. This is novel filled with rustic charm and enough plot twists and turns to keep readers engaged.—Wayne R. Cherry, Jr., First Baptist Academy Library, Houston, TX - Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
Booklist - 04/01/2012 On his twelfth birthday, in 1963, Cully Pennyacre applies for the apprentice job at Batty’s Antiques. The small wages would be welcome, and the job might also help Cully through the summer without his dad, who vanished a few months before. But the proprietor is, well, batty and believes he can capture people’s shadows with a mysterious device in the back of the store. Slowly, Cully begins to realize that Batty is in fact stealing people’s shadows, and when their shadows are stripped, people change—for the worse. With the help of two friends, Cully is determined to get to the bottom of Batty’s business. Quirky and uneven, this novel is reminiscent in tone of Polly Horvath’s work, but Gordon tries a little too hard, forcing parts of the plot, particularly a Cold War secret experiment for alternative fuel and espionage. However, the family dynamics are beautifully interwoven, and the sense of place well rendered. Once involved, readers will keep going to the end. - Copyright 2012 Booklist.
