Lucy and her family — Mama, Boots (her dad), little sister Gracie, toddler brother Teddy, and the chickens — are traveling to her great aunt Frankie’s in North Dakota to help out because the Red River is rising near Frankie’s home. Lucy’s father wanted to be a poet until he started farming and decided he could never write a poem as beautiful as a cow. Mama loves the music of Langhorne Slim. (Lucy thinks Mama would love to be Langhorne Slim.) Gracie draws, and Teddy, just starting to talk, can sing pitch-perfect. As for Lucy? She wants to be a poet, and someday soon she’s going to writer her father a poem as beautiful as a cow. Patricia MacLachlan’s story for newly independent readers may have a slightly too perfect family (although Mama has a welcome undercurrent of uncertainty) but the depth of feeling among its characters — from independent Frankie’s slight annoyance when they arrive to the terror when Teddy temporarily disappears — are genuine in this lovely portrait of a young writer just beginning to find her own voice. (Ages 7–9)

From the Newbery Award–winning author of Sarah, Plain and Tall comes a story about one brave girl who saves her family from losing everything.

Everyone in Lucy’s family sings. Opera. Rap. Lullabies. Everyone, except Lucy. Lucy can’t sing; her voice just won’t come out.

Just like singing, helping Aunt Frankie prepare for flooding season is a family tradition—even if Frankie doesn’t want the help. And this year, when the flood arrives, danger finds its way into the heart of Lucy’s family, and Lucy will need to find her voice to save her brother.