WINNER OF THE 2002 CARNEGIE MEDAL

Ruby Holler is a beautiful and mysterious place, deep in the country, a “basin in the hills. . .where cool breezes drifted through the trees, and where the creek was so clear that every stone on its bottom was visible.” An older couple, Tiller and Sairy, live in the holler and are looking for new adventures, each of them hoping to set off on a trip. When they invite the “trouble twins,” Dallas and Florida, to join them, all of their lives take new turns.

Sharon Creech states:

About six years ago I received a letter from my aunt in which she related a story about my father when he was young. She ended the story with “and that was when we lived in the holler.” Holler? I hadn’t known about the holler and was intrigued by the notion of my father and his many siblings and parents living in this place.

I began to imagine the place, and as I did so, I knew it would be a great setting for a story, but it was several years before I began to see who the characters might be who would live in this holler. I think that the older couple, Tiller and Sairy, evolved because I was thinking of my grandparents living in a holler, and this couple resembles my grandparents in some ways.

The children, Dallas and Florida, probably came to life because I’d been thinking of my father as a mischievous child (that was evident in the original story my aunt told) and his equally-mischievous siblings.

via Sharon Creech.

Mom says:

Sharon Creech has written other books.  We’ll get them.

I wonder.  How could you set up a book circle or a book club blog for books you enjoy reading?

There has to be a way.