Product Details
- Age Range: 8 - 12 years
- Grade Level: 4 - 6
- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Shadow Mountain (February 4, 2020)
- Genre: Middle-Grade Contemporary
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- ISBN: 9781629726083
- Retail Price: $16.99 Page Count: 304
- Juvenile Fiction / Social Themes
- Book Design: © Shadow Mountain
- Cover Illustration: Brandon Dorman
- Art Direction: Richard Erickson Design: Sheryl Dickert Smith
- ISBN-10: 1629726087
Book Summary
Paige’s favorite family tradition on the farm is the annual bonfire where everyone tosses in a stone and makes a wish. This time, Paige’s specific wish is one she’s not sure can come true: Don’t let Mom and Grandpa sell the farm.
When Paige’s younger brother finds a wounded peacock in the barn, Paige is sure it’s a sign that if she can keep the bird safe, she’ll keep the farm safe too. Peacocks, after all, are known to be fierce protectors of territory and family.
With determination and hard work, Paige tries to prove she can save the farm on her own, but when a real estate agent stakes a “For Sale” sign at the end of the driveway and threatens everything Paige loves, she calls on her younger brother and her best friends, Mateo and Kimana, to help battle this new menace. They may not have street smarts, but they have plenty of farm smarts and some city lady who’s scared of spiders should be easy enough to drive away.
But even as the peacock gets healthier, the strain of holding all the pieces of Paige’s world together gets harder. Faced with a choice between home and family, she risks everything to make her wish come true, including the one thing that scares her the most: letting the farm go.
My Review
Author Wendy Swore's new book is a Middle-Grade novel written for kids aged 8-12 but this story is for people of all ages. I loved the characters, the setting (it's where I grew up!!), and the life lessons learned in this novel.
Paige is a twelve-year-old going on twenty-one. She was her dad's favorite helper and he taught her everything about running their South-Eastern Idaho farm. Sadly, her father died in an accident and now the family farm faces foreclosure. This novel is a mixture of sadness, humor, intrigue, and heartwarming moments. Honestly, there were moments I couldn't stop laughing as Paige and her younger brother, Scotty, tried many ways to sabotage potential buyers of their farm. I loved how each person in Paige's life helped her learn and grow in a different way. Her two best friends Mateo and Kimana, are there for her during the hard times but also give her a little tough love when Paige is having a hard time facing reality.
The supporting cast of characters is large and wonderful! Paige's grandfather, the mysterious reporter Mr. Ferro, and of course Royal the Peacock were quick favorites of mine. This novel is another book that would make a great family read-aloud with your kids or grandkids. I can't wait to see what else Author Wendy Swore writes next. Her two first books have been classical winners!
Purchase The Wish and the Peacock HERE: https://amzn.to/2GjHjmn
Meet Author Wendy S. Swore
Wendy S. Swore farms on the Sho-Ban reservation where her corn maze and pumpkin patch is home to her five kids, two dogs, two geese, seven peacocks, eleven ducks, nineteen cats, and two hundred thirty seven chickens. She farms in the summers, writes in the winters, and would rather chew her leg off than eat something spicy.
Learn more about Wendy and her books HERE:
https://wendyswore.com/
Advance Praise/Endorsements:
“The Wish and the Peacock is a thoughtful novel about love,
loss, and the hope of a new beginning.”
-Foreword Reviews
“Heartfelt and funny, the story
captures the lives of often underrepresented farming families. An impressive
tale carrying universal themes of grief, change, and letting go.”
-Kirkus
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