The Great Unexpected audiobook

As gorgeous as this book was, I felt let down. Sharon Creech is one of my favorite childhood authors and I’ve been wanting to read this book forever, since it came out to be precise. I remember the excitement I felt when I found out Sharon Creech had a new book out. I added it to my Goodreads, to-read list but like the case with a lot of other books that I placed on the list, it found it’s way to a place on the list that I don’t often check.When I finally got my hands on the book, I was excited to dive in and I was disappointed when it started to seem that this middle grade book had a situation where two young girls were being torn apart because of there shared interest in one guy. I mean realistically, it’s quite possible. We all had our crushes when we were young, but I just don’t expect stuff like that in middle grade books so I was shocked.My shock aside, after pondering about the situation a bit, it made me think. Shouldn’t middle grade books also explore certain concepts like this? After all there are young tweens that might read these books looking for some kind of reassurance they aren’t on their own or that the way they feel isn’t abnormal or that boys don’t actually have cooties (we all went through that phase :P)!Lizzie and Naomi are both wonderful characters and I adored being inside of Naomi’s head. It’s clear that in spite of the way she may present herself, she does want to be loved and doesn’t just want to be a ‘burden’ to Nula and Joe. She wants to know that she matters to them too and it's obvious she was too scared to ask the right question. Especially after seeing the kind of affect Lizzie’s obviously high expectations had on her. Naomi was just such a lovable character and you wanted to hold her and reassure her that everything would be okay. Lizzie was slightly overwhelming at first but I came to adore her too. She talked a lot and there were times where you, like Naomi, just wanted her to zip it but her innocence made it obvious that she never thought anything but the best of everyone and would never want to hurt anyone. Most of all, Naomi.I loved the magic realism in this book. It definitely made the book more exciting but at the same time, I wanted so much more. This book is full of so much potential and when I compare it to some of Creech’s other works, I cannot help but find the book lacking.To add to that, the ending to this book just seemed so unlike Creech. The other books I’ve read by her always ended in a sweet but realistic manner but the ending to this book bordered on unrealistic. There were elements to it that made me smile but other parts of it made me cringe with their perfectness.Don’t be confused by what I said though, this book still has it’s brutal parts and while I wish they had been given more attention, they do manage to break your heart.All in all, while I feel a little let down by this book, it’s still a fantastic read and one I won’t hesitate to recommend (unless it’s your first time reading Creech in which case, I’d say start with Walk Two Moons).

I work with a Lizzie-type person. She doesn't take a breath, rattling through conversations like an auctioneer. Sometimes I want to make the timeout sign with my hands, other times I marvel at her yapping tongue. Lizzie Scatterding is Naomi Deane's best friend who has a good heart, is melodramatic, and can be annoyingly talkative. Both girls are orphans living in the town of Blackbird Tree and their relationship and dialogue is one of the great strengths of this novel. Dizzy Lizzy repeats everything to factual Naomi to which she usually replies something like, "Lizzie, you crawdad. I'm not deaf." She also asks so many questions that Naomi almost asks her to stop but remembers Joe saying "Lizzie could talk the ears off a cornfield, and it made me laugh, and I wrapped an arm around Lizzie." Most of the people in Blackbird Tree have suffered in some way. Lizzie's mom died of a disease and her dad of grief, while Naomi's mom died in childbirth and her dad died of an infection caused from defending her from an attacking dog. It mangled Naomi's arm, but she doesn't dwell on it. The two girls don't want pity and when a teacher comes to town she can't believe all the tragic tales the students have in regards to family. Naomi says, "We thought we were normal. All any of us wanted was for somebody to care about us, and if we couldn’t have that, then at least somebody who wouldn’t be too mean and who would feed us from time to time.” When, the two girls meet the mysterious Finn boy, things become complicated as Naomi falls in love with him leading to jealous feelings toward Lizzie. The terrific writing and the way Sharon Creech puts sentences together made me really enjoy this book. The characters are eccentric and a fantasty-like realism runs throughout the chapters that is quite unique. The play on words regarding names had me laughing such as Lizzie Scatterdinghead who is a scatterbrain and Dapper Dingle Dangle Doodle man, and the muddle-brained Mrs. Mudkin who never says, Naomi's, name correctly calling her "Neema" or "Raynee" to which Naomi replies it's "Nay-oh-me."The alternate story of the two women in Ireland and the different characters named Finn or Paddy is not clear until the end. I take that back - some parts are clear while others are not. Naomi's Finn is a very confusing character. He's the fantasy element. I have no clue if he is an elf, fairy, leprechaun, or druid. He crops up in three generations of women and tries to cause a rift between friends. He's the ghost of girlfriends past. The gold at the end doesn't make sense to me either. I thought maybe it was the leprechaun's pot of gold and the girls would get three wishes, but that is not the case. Naomi's Finn tells them to not steal the gold in the beginning of the story and at the end we find out that Finnbar died because he stole it. Paddy/Finn wants the trunk because it has gold coins in it. It would have helped me if Paddy actually mentioned the coins in his confrontation with Sybil. The whole Irish folklore needed to be fleshed out and worked into the plot more to make sense to this wee lassie.At the start of the novel the characters have a southern accent except Nula who sounds Irish but later Irish accents crop up in other characters and I got a little confused on the setting. The ending was rushed as everything was wrapped up neatly for all the women and townspeople. I think the unbelievable way in which everything turned out so well for each character is supposed to tie in with the magic of Irish folklore and wishes coming true but there isn't a strong connection to any specific legend, so I'm not sure how to analyze it. Like Lizzie, I am left with lots of questions and no pot of answers, but inspite of my confusion, I really enjoyed this story and the characters.Reading Level 4.1

This is a delight. If I could write children's stories with as much wit and energy, and imagination, I'd be a happy man. The characters are often laconic in speech, yet what little they say speaks volumes. Only the heroine Naomi's best friend, Lizzie, can talk the ears off a field of corn. And she does, to the reader's great enjoyment. The chapters set in Ireland, dotted throughout the book, at first seem curious and almost alien with their dark hints at things we don't understand. Going back and re-reading them after the book is finished, you wonder why you didn't see this point, or that point, on first reading.

This review is from my blog, Studies in Storytelling. http://studiesinstorytelling.blogspot...I read this book in one sitting, and it was a complete delight. I say this as a 21-year-old college senior unaccustomed to reading Middle Grade. It releases September 4, 2012. The twelve-year-old, neurotic Naomi has a violent past and a childlike perspective, but a refreshingly sophisticated voice. Her sarcasm and levelheadedness contrast her friend Lizzie Scatterdinghead’s innocent, tactful chatterboxing in one of the best foils I’ve ever witnessed.When a little Irishman falls out of a tree and knocks her over, he becomes her first crush. Duh dun SHHH. As the opening chapters suggest - Naomi and Lizzie refer to Finn as “a body” and as “it” - he’s mysterious enough to make you wonder, for some time, whether he’s paranormal. Meanwhile, a couple of women casually plot “murders” across the ocean, and many dots link Naomi’s and Lizzie’s little country town of Blackbird Tree, and the dots demand explanation. What I learned about storytelling: I’ve got a countdown this time. 3. Interactive character description is incredibly vivid. When the book comes out, I will be copying a passage about Joe from chapter 7. 2. I remember this trick from Walk Two Moons. Creech adds some distance to the love stories woven into these middle grade books, maybe to tone down the romance for younger kids, maybe to add poignance and mystery, maybe both. The most intimate scene in the book is told in two parts, with a brief intermission, in past perfect tense. 1. There’s a saying about writing: “Don’t leave the gun on the mantle.” If a character puts a gun above the fireplace, that gun better fire before the story’s over. Sharon Creech doesn’t just fire the gun. She takes every single item on the mantle and turns it into a weapon. If a bad guy broke into her proverbial plotting house, he’d get shot with all the guns, stabbed with all the candles, have his ribs broken by a giant clock, his head bashed in by books. In The Great Unexpected, Creech ties together threads that you’d forgotten about, and it’s as delightful as golden thread spun from straw. To break it down a little more: I think the motifs and repeating imagery of this book create a narrow world. Crows, trees, wrinkles, dogs, Finns, and more crows. It’s comfortable, then it’s almost annoying until it gets comforting again - and then the world expands, and it’s great and unexpected.

This is yet another insightful, wonderful book by Sharon Creech.Mentioned as a potential Newbery award winner for 2013, I hope Creech is successful in garnering her third Newbery award.I loved Walk Two Moons, a Newbery medal winner in 1995. She won a Newbery honor in 2001 for The Wanderer.The setting of The Great Unexpected is a teeny, tiny, hamlet of Blackbird Tree. Naomi and Lizzie are good friends, both are orphans. Many in the town of Blackbird face difficult lives. In fact, one new teacher only lasted a year when she realized that most of her pupils sadly are so accustomed to heartbreaking adversity, they consider their lives quite normal.A blend of fantasy, reality and heartwarming genius, here is a sample of Naomi's mental meanderings and the wonderful writing of Creech:"I had big thoughts to match the big wind. I wondered if we find the people we need when we need them. I wondered if we attract our future by some sort of invisible force, or if we are drawn to it by a similar force. I felt I was turning a corner and that change was afoot."Change did happen one day when a young boy named Finn drops from a tree. Trying to decide if he is dead or alive, of this world, or from another, both Naomi and Lizzie are drawn to Finn, who is about to set the town upside down.Quite unexpectedly they learn the power of family, of friendship and love.Highly recommended with fingers crossed that Creech obtains yet another well-deserved Newbery award.4.5 stars

Ok! This is more like the Sharon Creech I like! This is the best novel so far of hers (besides obviously Walk Two Moons, which will never be beat). Some of the books written in poetry are just about as good, but this is my favorite prose one so far. It’s still a little quirky, but I liked the characters. The story was a little silly, but it was fun. I like how it all came together. It’s written almost like a mystery. You know there is a reveal coming from the very beginning. The story comes together in pieces, and you come to love the characters along the way. This is definitely best for teens and tweens, not elementary kids. I don’t think they’d enjoy it as much, so might as well wait until they can! There is a 12 year old girl with a crush on a boy her age and she wants to kiss him. I know some people try to avoid that for certain readers. But it’s not overkill.

What a fun story! It was odd at times and totally random, but I enjoyed the way all of the pieces came together in the end. A fun, quick read for a weekend trip.

I so adore Sharon Creech. This book should be made into a movie. Big Fish style. I’ll watch it ten times.

An intriguing book--I enjoyed it very much and read it quickly. I don't think I quite grasped everything, but it seems well worth a reread. I loved the hints at adolescent angst (not written in an ANGSTY way, but a real way), and the characters, and the setting--the Irish setting was perhaps better defined than the American setting, but that might have been done purposefully. I love the way the story slips in and out of the real world.Recommended for anyone who enjoys a little Irish folklore mixed into her realistic fiction--it's sort of a junior grade IMPOSSIBLE. (Nancy Werlin)I have mixed results with Sharon Creech, so I didn't come to this with any particular expectations. Is it correct to say that she usually writes straight realistic fiction, though sometimes with an unreliable narrator? I suspect some people who are Creech fans might be bewildered by this one. Well, I'm slightly bewildered, too, but in a good way.Newbery-wise, this is very well-written, as good as any of the top middle-grade fiction contenders; but it doesn't seem to be a popular title so far. I'd vote it as a worthy honor book, but not a LIKELY one.Overall, a nice surprise. The ending is a bittersweet cherry on top.

Creech gives us wonderful quirky, imaginative characters in this middle-reader fairy tale that addresses gender inequity and the reality of good fairy tales and bad ones. How shall we know the difference and attend to rectifying the wrong of the bad fairy tales? How shall we live with ordinary magic - love, acceptance, courage, wonder, and imagination - in our lives where unexpected events are to be expected? When to welcome such events and when are we to be wary of them? Creech's usual attention to interior and exterior dialogue make this a fine novel to share aloud as a family or among friends.

This was a solid MG read. The only reason I didn't give it FIVE stars was because it was quite confusing in the manor it was written. I enjoyed the messages and sweetness of the story though. Its definitely one which will warm your heart. The characters were rich and well developed. The writing style beautiful. Full Review to Come... (Closer to Review DATE)The My Precious Blogthecallawayfam.blogspot.com

This story was filled with great, unexpected things. Friendship, family, forgiveness, and restoration all blend together throughout situations that seem impossible. As two young friends experience both hard and good times, Naomi reflects, "I realized that was one difference between me and Lizzie. I didn't want to know everything that was already known; I wanted to leave room for possibilities." What a great thought to pass along to my middle school students: Leave room for possibilities.