April 18, 2022
After 10-year-old Harvard Corson’s doctor father makes a mistake that results in an infant’s death, he is sad all the time, seldom leaving the apartment until he decides to visit his hometown. Harvard’s Dominican scientist mother is too busy with research to go along, so Harvard, his five-year-old brother Roger, and their father rent a house deep in the woods of Kettle Hole, Maine, from a childhood friend of Harvard’s father who’s struggling to pay his late wife’s medical bills. Hoping to lift his dad’s spirits, Harvard begins a project studying ants; his father enthusiastically builds an ant farm, but when the ants he orders arrive dead, Harvard solicits the help of newfound friend and remarkable poet, 10-year-old Nevaeh, to find new ants. The initially dark slice-of-life story gets lighter as Harvard’s father steadily improves and Harvard encounters wonderful people and landmarks in Kettle Hole. Cully (Down to Earth) deftly parallels Harvard’s father’s progress and the evolution of the ants they observe. Humor, often stemming from Roger’s lively antics, is balanced with serious, thoughtful moments in this hopeful story that explores the reality of hardship and mistakes amid themes of forgiveness and resilience. Ages 8–12. Agent: Steven Chudney, Chudney Agency.
October 1, 2022
Gr 3-7-Harvard and Roger's father sat in their city apartment for five months after "the mistake"-which caused the death of an infant in his care. Dad's now decided to take the boys to his hometown of Kettle Hole, ME, where he's just "the Corson boy there, not Dr. Corson." Mom can't leave her research, but she needs Dad to "use this summer to figure out a way to forgive [him]self." They're renting Dad's childhood friend Vern's house-without internet or TV-but Vern's daughter Nevaeh ("heaven spelled backwards") turns out to be a wonderfully welcoming friend. Alejandro Ruiz deftly distinguishes the sizable cast: he's especially empathic to clever, funny, kind Harvard, and just as affecting as adorable Roger, wise-beyond-her-years Nevaeh, slowly improving Dad, and Dominican American Mom. VERDICT With notable versatility, Ruiz magnifies the gentle goodness of Culley's affecting story, enabling younger readers to face difficult issues.
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