by Sharon Creech
A wonderful tale of unexpected family ties spanning two continents - with a little bit of a ghost story thrown in too - oh, and a fairy ring!Naomi and Lizzie are best friends in a small American village called Blackbird Tree. The main thing they have in common is that they are both orphans. Naomi is looked after by Nula and Joe - Nula came to America from her home country Ireland when she was a teenager. Lizzie is with foster parents - her only family is apparently a mad aunt living in Ireland. Thus the seeds of family ties are sown, and grow as the story grows. It is helped along the way by a mysterious young lad, Finn, who falls out of a tree one day in front of Naomi. He has a strange accent, and also a strange ability to appear and disappear at random moments - usually when Naomi is thinking of him. The stories of old Mrs Kavanagh and her friend Pilpenny in Ireland, and Naomi and Lizzie in America, are interwoven beautifully, helped along by all the other strange and eccentric characters in Blackbird Tree, each of them with their own secrets and stories to tell.
I just loved this!
