Left And Loved

Anticipation.  There is nothing like it, especially when it comes to the book release of a new title by a favorite author.  There are authors who you have come to know through the characters in their books.  You appreciate the overall feeling you have when reading their books even if they change the method of presenting their story.

When Sharon Creech's new book appeared in bookstores, I was able to pick it up at my favorite indie shop on it's birthday.  As I do most times when a cherished author has a new book, I placed it where I could look at it for a few days.  I avoided all reviews and the jacket flap.  For starters the jacket illustration for The Boy on the Porch (Joanna Cotler Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) intrigued me.  Who was this boy?  Where was this porch?  What was the significance of the dog sitting next to him?  It was like an open door.  With the first sentence,

The young couple found the child asleep in an old cushioned chair on the front porch., 

I crossed over the threshold and entered a truly memorable story.  By the time I finished the two-page first chapter I knew nothing would take me from this world of a husband and wife who find a boy on their porch, until I read the final page.

We learn the young couple are named Marta and John. Their small farm in the country, some twelve miles outside a tiny rural town with a general store and a sheriff's office, provides the quintessential backdrop for the events which unfold.  The boy, unable to speak, eventually hands them a wrinkled note he takes from his pocket.  It reads:

Plees taik kair of Jacob.
He is a god good boy.
Will be bak wen we can. 

At first Marta and John believe someone will come by the end of the day.  When no one does by the next day, John drives to town to make inquiries.  He's careful how he words his questions because already he can see Marta is developing an attachment to Jacob.  To his surprise he is too.

As is the way of the universe when one thing is missing, others may be strengthened. We readers along with Marta and John, discover Jacob's gifts.  He has a natural ability for music, painting (in a big way) and in communicating with the animals on the farm.  Beagle, the couple's beagle, a stray appearing at the farm earlier, leads Jacob around the pastures along with the cow, recently left tied to the fence at the end of their drive.  To their amazement, watching the trio one morning, they notice Jacob tapping and patting as he usually does but the dog and cow are responding in their own similar manner.

As days drift into weeks, it's clear the three have formed a familial relationship, however precarious it might be; all have tucked away in their minds the return of whoever left Jacob on the porch.  John and Marta do their best to care for Jacob and he delights them endlessly with his uplifting view of the world, his tenderness for all living things.  While their love for the boy grows, the couple continue to ask in their town and other nearby towns about a missing child never quite telling the whole truth.

 The goodness in John's and Marta's hearts, other pieces in this puzzle found, and visits by the sheriff are all blended together in a culmination which even now brings tears to my eyes.  But as is the way of storyteller, Sharon Creech, it's not the end.  Oh my no...she takes us deeper into the tale with more lives changed, more love than your heart can almost bear and a very old beagle howling at a closed door.


During my second reading of The Boy on the Porch I began to mark words, phrases and passages.  Soon my book was sporting the porcupine look.  In fact, I was so profoundly moved by the writing, the narrative of this book, I sent out a tweet to Sharon Creech.

Reading the prose of @ciaobellacreech is like reading poetry. I ♥ The Boy on the Porch. #bookaday
— Margie Myers-Culver (@Loveofxena) September 8, 2013

It's like she can see into the deepest parts of people's hearts, looking for the good which will triumph over the not-so-good things in the world.  It's her belief that kindness will be returned tenfold which permeates every single page of this book.  The dialogue between her characters and their thoughts revealed show us their essence.  Her descriptions of the events, the setting, are so vivid we are transported.  Allow me to share a couple of passages with you.

When the man and the dog returned to the porch, the woman was kneeling beside the old cushioned chair, her hand resting gently on the boy's back.  There was something in the tilt of her head and the tenderness of her touch that moved him.

He didn't know what made him so anxious.  Maybe the people had come for the boy.  He should have stayed home with Marta.  What if there was a problem---but what sort of problem?  What was the matter with him?  He wasn't usually a worrier.  

It was as if he were re-creating the sounds of the forest and the dawn and the mountains, all together.  The sounds moved John and Marta greatly.  One minute they would be smiling and soon after they were close to tears.  It was as if the boy had control of their minds and bodies.


The Boy on the Porch written by Sharon Creech is so beautifully told it can be enjoyed repeatedly by readers older and younger than the intended audience.  It provides answers but asks questions, opening up opportunities for discussion.  Most of all this is a story of love, love shared and returned.  Thank you Sharon Creech for this book.

Please visit Sharon Creech's website through the link embedded in her name above.  In celebration of this book's release pledge to read in the Creech-A-Thon.  If you desire here is a link to a discussion guide.  If you would like to read a portion of the beginning of this title, follow this link to the publisher's website to Browse Inside.  This links to commentary for readers and writers posted by author Barbara O'Connor on her blog about The Boy on the Porch.  Enjoy the video below where Sharon Creech reads to us from The Boy on the Porch.  



Here is an update to the original blog post.  It's taken from Sharon Creech's blog, Words We Say.  It's titled The Boy on the Porch: Beginning.  It's truly wonderful when readers are given insight into the writing process; knowing how a book is brought to life.

A Little Bit of Mystery, A Little Bit of Magic and a Whole Lot of Life

When beginning a new book, there's something particularly attractive about being introduced to a character, within the first two pages (a prologue), who among other things, is a teller of tales.  When the story they tell is so compelling a listener becomes fearful, readers, like that listener, might be prone to the same thoughts as one of the main characters.

Sensing my fear, Joe would say, "It's only a story, Naomi, only a story." He suggested that I say to myself, "I'm not in the story, I'm not in the story"--a refrain I could repeat so that I would feel less anxious.
And so each time the poor man would reach into the donkey's ears, I would tell myself, I'm not in the story, I'm not in the story, but it didn't help because a story was only interesting if I was in the story.

And that, as is said, is the crux of the matter.

For a book to be good, so good the characters, events, setting, and how they are shaped and pieced together into a powerful whole stays with a reader, the whole must bring you into the story.  An author who has consistently perfected this art is Sharon Creech.  Creech was the recipient of the Newbery Award in 1995 for Walk Two Moons, the Newbery Honor in 2001 for The Wanderer and the 2002 Carnegie Medal for Ruby Holler. 

I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of The Great Unexpected which is scheduled to be released on September 4, 2012.  With every turn of page you fall more deeply under the spell of Creech's writing.  Before you know it, you are living with the people making their home in a town named Blackbird Tree.

When she was only three Naomi Deane, a foster child, began living with Joe and Nula; her father having died trying to save her from a vicious dog attack.  A mere two days after she was born her mother had died.  Naomi's best friend, Lizzie Scatterding, has been living with the Cupwrights as a foster child for the past two years.

All is oddly normal in their community; the gossipy gatherings at Tebop's General Store, the Dimmenses and the dogs on Black Dog Night Hill, Witch Wiggins who may or may not have out-of-this-world powers, Crazy Cora who abhors visitors of any kind, Mrs. Mudkin from the Ladies Society at church spreading goodwill, Mr. Canner living on memories and one-armed Mr. Farley lost in the past.  All this sense of sameness changes when a body falls out of a tree on top of Naomi and the Dingle Dangle man comes to this particular spot in the universe.  Yes, indeed, things are not at all what they appear to be.

On the other side of the ocean two women, Mrs. Kavanagh and Miss Pilpenny are plotting a revenge and enjoying a healthy dose of murder each night.  The long arm of these two will be felt in a great unexpected way.  How fairy circles, rooks in twos, a love of dogs, ghosts, and a crooked bridge all meld with these delightfully, distinctive people toward the miraculous, marvelous conclusion will have you wondering if you should clap your hands and dance, sigh and quietly smile or as a single tear rolls down your cheek you should begin to read it all over again.

As I was reading The Great Unexpected I continually held this picture in my mind of Sharon Creech sitting at a table with pieces of a puzzle spread before her.  All these pieces were her creation; phrases that roll off your tongue, lines of language bringing forth an instant sense of place or detailed dialogue or thoughts giving insight into the core of a character's personality.  She with the practiced hand of a master having honed her gift moving them, fitting all the pieces into place.  And we, lucky readers every one, getting to enjoy and savor the beauty of this book.

Here are some samples of her writing from this title.

Joe, my guardian and a man of few words, once said about Lizzie, "That girl could talk the ears off a cornfield."

A tangle of twine on Joe's workbench reminded me of a time when I was maybe five or six and had taken a ball of twine and wound it all through the chicken yard, so the chickens would have little "rooms" of their own, and Nula came out in the near dark and tripped over the twine rooms and broke her wrist when she fell.
She didn't yell.  She didn't scold. All she said to me was, "Rooms for chickens?"

Both Nula and I were stunned into silence.
"I just cannot believe this, Naomi.  It's like--it's like--the universe spun us together on purpose."
"Yes," Nula said quietly, "It does seem that way, doesn't it?"

When Sharon Creech writes, threads of people's lives are woven together with her words; words speaking of family, friendship, love and forgiveness.  In The Great Unexpected time and distance can be bridged.  In The Great Unexpected readers are surrounded by story, an unforgettable story filled with magical moments. 

Thank you Sharon Creech for this book.  This view from the moon is splendid. Lar-de-dar

Links embedded in her name will take you to her website and blog.