Ferris

<p><b>The masterful Kate DiCamillo has outdone herself with a hilarious and achingly real love story about a girl a ghost a grandmother and growing up.</b><br>It’s the summer before fifth grade and for Ferris Wilkey it is a summer of sheer pandemonium. Her little sister Pinky has vowed to become an outlaw. Uncle Ted has left Aunt Shirley and to Ferris’s mother’s chagrin is holed up in the Wilkey basement to paint a history of the world. And Charisse Ferris’s grandmother has started seeing a ghost in the doorway to her room – which seems like an alarming omen given that she is feeling unwell. But the ghost is not there to usher Charisse to the Great Beyond. Rather she has other plans – wild impractical illuminating plans. How can Ferris satisfy a spectre with Pinky terrorizing the town Uncle Ted sending Ferris to spy on her aunt and her father battling an invasion of raccoons?<br><br>As Charisse likes to say “Every good story is a love story” and Kate DiCamillo has written one for the ages: emotionally resonant and healing showing the twice Newbery Medallist at her most playful universal and profound.</p> <b>Kate DiCamillo </b>is one of America’s most beloved storytellers author of <i>The Tale of Despereaux </i>and <i>Flora and Ulysses </i>both of which have been awarded the prestigious Newbery Medal; <i>Because of Winn-Dixie </i>which received a Newbery Honor; <i>The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane </i>which won a <i>Boston Globe-Horn Book</i> Award; and the hugely popular trilogy of stories about the Three Rancheros: <i>Raymie Nightingale</i> <i>Louisiana's Way Home </i>and<i> Beverly Right Here</i>. Born in Philadelphia she grew up in Florida and now lives in Minneapolis USA where she faithfully writes two pages a day five days a week. Moving memorable quirky tale. Quirky and highly original – filled with brilliantly drawn characters any one of whom could hold a story on their own who have come together in a story so wonderfully crafted that I grew enormously attached to them all as I read and was genuinely sad to have to say goodbye to them when I reached the end of the book… Perfect for confident readers in Year 4 this is such a brilliant read.