Aggie, Willow, Loretta, and Kirby have nothing in common, it appears, other than staying at the same run-down Sleepytime Motel in the middle of the Smoky Mountains. Aggie is a widow in her eighties looking to sell the empty motel, although for her it holds a lifetime of memories. Willow is the shy child of the man who wants to buy Aggie’s motel, but by moving there Willow fears her absent mother won’t know where to find her if she should return. Loretta, a much-loved daughter on vacation with her adoptive parents, yearns to feel a connection with the mountains her birth mother once visited. And Kirby is a sullen and troubled boy on his way to military school when his mother’s car breaks down and they must stay at the motel. In ways each individual never could have predicted, their lives are transformed by their overlapping experiences at the Sleepytime Motel. Told in alternate voices, each chapter offers quiet perspectives on how we see ourselves and others, and how even the smallest action can make a difference. (Ages 9–12)

Aggie isn't expecting visitors at the Sleepy Time Motel in the Great Smoky Mountains. Since her husband died, she is all alone with her cat, Ugly, and keeping up with the bills and repairs has become next to impossible. The pool is empty, the garden is overgrown, and not a soul has come to stay in nearly three months. When she reluctantly places a For Sale ad in the newspaper, Aggie doesn't know that Kirby and his mom will need a room when their car breaks down on the way to Kirby's new reform school. Or that Loretta and her parents will arrive in her dad's plumbing company van on a trip meant to honor the memory of Loretta's birth mother. Or that Clyde Dover will answer the For Sale ad in such a hurry and move in with his daughter, Willow, looking for a brand-new life to replace the one that was fractured when Willow's mom left. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that Aggie and her guests find just the friends they need at the shabby motel in the middle of nowhere.

From an author long recognized for her true Southern voice and heartfelt characters, Greetings from Nowhere, with its four intertwining stories, brings Barbara O'Connor's work to a new level of sophistication.

This title has Common Core connections.