Winner of the 2012 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards Bronze Medal for Best First Book – Chapter Book.
Old Edna Cornblossom is gone, and the whole neighborhood misses her. Welcome to Arlington Court, where a trio of ten-year-olds, two eccentric adults, and a mischievous calico cat discover that, together, they carry their friend’s beloved memory forward in their own lives.
About the author:
Colleen Anderson lives in Charleston, West Virginia. In addition to travel and feature writing, short stories, poems, and short essays for West Virginia Public Radio, she has produced two collections of original songs, Fabulous Realities and Going Over Home. This is her first book for children.
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Reviews
“Colleen Anderson has the rare gift of turning the everyday world into something magical. Missing: Mrs. Cornblossom has a timeless feel. Written with a poet’s eye and brimming with heart, readers of this story will be hooked from the very first page. Prepare to be utterly charmed by Inchbald, Toothbucket, Cocobean the cat and, of course, Mrs. Cornblossom.”
– Sarah Sullivan, author of Passing the Music Down, an NCTE 2012 Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts
“First there was Wonderland, then Middle Earth, not long ago Hogwarts, and now Arlington Court. Colleen Anderson can imagine worlds we want to visit with the best of them, and in her tale of Toothbucket, Inchbald, and Cocobean the cat, we meet friends we want to keep for the rest of our lives. With the language of the poet and the narrative prowess of the storyteller, Anderson shows us that even in the most mundane places there is mystery; that the safest spaces can contain loss, but ultimately joy; and that we often forget to search for beauty where it is most profound—in ourselves.”
– Anita Skeen, Director, the RCAH Center for Poetry at Michigan State University and author of Never the Whole Story
