Children's Fiction Short Stories
War at the Snow White Motel and Other Stories
- Publisher
- Groundwood Books Ltd
- Initial publish date
- Aug 2020
- Category
- Short Stories, Adolescence, Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781773060477
- Publish Date
- Aug 2020
- List Price
- $18.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781773060484
- Publish Date
- May 2020
- List Price
- $10.99
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Where to buy it
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age: 9 to 12
- Grade: 4 to 6
- Reading age: 9 to 12
Description
An insightful and funny new collection of short stories from award-winning author Tim Wynne-Jones.
In “War at the Snow White Motel,” Rex and his family are vacationing in Vermont. A thoughtless act launches him into war with an older teenager at their motel, but a much bigger conflict — the Vietnam War — looms large on the horizon.
Ant wants to join the #FridaysForFuture movement — and impressing the new girl at school is only one good reason why. Joseph and Danny are determined to right an old wrong, no matter the consequences. Michel takes a road trip to spot a rare bird, and along the way learns what his father is really afraid of. Robin has to battle her anxiety when her great-grandfather sends her in search of an old stuffed toy with a storied past. Walker is home for the summer, in time to help his little sister expose a local company’s dubious environmental practices. A boy can’t figure out why the class bully won’t leave him alone — it’s not anything he could have foreseen.
Tim Wynne-Jones brilliantly captures pivotal moments small and large as these characters fight for understanding, courage and a better future. This new collection features six brand-new stories and three that have been previously published.
Key Text Features
author’s note
humor
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.6
Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
About the author
TIM WYNNE-JONES is one of Canada's foremost writers for children. The author of over thirty-five books, he is a two-time winner of the Governor General's Award, as well as a two-time winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and of the Arthur Ellis Award. His short-story collections include Some of the Kinder Planets, Book of Changes and Lord of the Fries. He is also known for his Rex Zero series. Recently, he wrote the young-adult novels The Ruinous Sweep; Emperor of Any Place, which earned seven starred reviews; and Blink & Caution, which won the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award. Tim is also the recipient of the Edgar Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award for a Body of Work. In 2012, he was made an Officer to the Order of Canada. He lives in Perth, Ontario.
Excerpt: War at the Snow White Motel and Other Stories (by (author) Tim Wynne-Jones)
The swimming pool is shaped like a heart. No, wait — it’s an apple. Of course! The poisonous apple Snow White took a bite of that sent her into a coma. Sort of weird, really, when you think about it. Who’d want to swim in a poisonous pool? No one by the look of it. The pool is empty. All that delicious coolness just lying there, sparkling in the late afternoon sun.…
Poison or not, alligators or not, I’m hot and I want into that pool. I head straight for the diving board, take as big a bounce as I can off the end and cannonball into the water.
Splash!
I drift down into the blue coolness, my eyes wide open. Glug, glug, glug. There is only watery sunlight down here, as if the sun was a big yellow china ball that someone smashed into little shards and sprinkled on the blue tile floor. My goggles aren’t on tight enough and water seeps inside, so with a little kick off the bottom I drift to the surface.
“Hey, you!”
A voice booms above me. I grab the lip of the pool. I also grab a mouthful of water, which makes me cough and cough. There is a large pair of hairy feet planted right beside my hand. I look up, my vision all swimmy through goggles full of water — way up, past a pair of Superman legs, a pair of yellow bathing trunks with palm trees on them, a chest big enough to pitch a tent on, to a face glaring down at me as if I am a toad and the only thing stopping him from squashing me is that he doesn’t have his toad-squashing boots on. Then I see the comic book in his hand. It’s sopping wet.
Editorial Reviews
Varied, funny, and often very touching, this is a fine collection, perfect for reading aloud.
Horn Book
A delightful collection of stories from one of Canada’s best writers for children and teens. It’s full of Wynne-Jones’s wonderful sense of humour and ability to make characters come to life.
Globe and Mail
Readers familiar with Wynne-Jones’ previous short-story collections … will come to this one expecting originality, wit, and humanity. They’ll find all that and more in these often surprising, always rewarding stories.
Booklist
With a nostalgic, wholesome feel, these stories offer tales of quiet courage.
Publisher's Weekly
Clever dialogue and genuine, messy relationships among kids and their parents and friends as well as with older relatives who are dealing with dementia will ring true for readers who share these experiences… An intelligent, emotionally resonant collection.
Kirkus Reviews
