After problems develop at home with her older brother and sister, 13-year-old Dinnie is whisked away by her amiable aunt and uncle who are in charge of an international school in Lugano, Switzerland. Ironically, her new life in an unfamiliar place offers her a stability she has never known -- she has grown up in a family that has moved from place to place as her father constantly seeks new opportunities. With her new-found sense of home, new friends for whom transience is a fact of life, and with distance from her old life, Dinnie is finally able to piece together who she is and how she fits into her family. She is even able to glimpse the opportunities (or "bloomabilities" as her Japanese friend Keisuke calls them) that await her in the world beyond her family. Once again, Sharon Creech offers her readers memorable characters and a gripping storyline, deftly combining humor with some of the serious issues that face young teenagers. Upon deeper examination, readers will find parallels between the people Dinnie knows in the United States and those she meets in Switzerland. This subtle mirroring allows Dinnie's growing empathy for her new friends to plant the seeds for understanding her family back home. (Ages 9-14)

My second life began when I was kidnapped by two complete strangers . . .

That the kidnappers are actually Aunt Sandy and Uncle Max makes no difference to thirteen-year-old Domenica Santolina Doone, better known as Dinnie--she just doesn't want to go. Dinnie's accustomed to change, with her family constantly moving for "opportunity"--but when her aunt and uncle whisk her far away to an international school in Switzerland, she's not sure she's ready to face this "opportunity" alone.

All at once she finds herself in a foreign country, surrounded by kids from different cultures speaking all sorts of languages and sharing various beliefs. Home and her first life seem so far away.

But new friendships and the awesome beauty of Switzerland begin to unlock thoughts and dreams within her. Her joys and struggles make up a rich tapestry of experiences she can find nowhere else. Switzerland begins to be more than a temporary home--it becomes a part of Dinnnie herself, the self she never knew she could be.

Switzerland is the picturesque backdrop of Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech's new novel about a young girl discovering the beauty of nature, her place in the world, the value of friendship--and that life is full of wonderful "bloomabilites."