Jane O'Reilly (2)

When I spotted The Secret of Goldenrod in a library display, I was attracted by the Victorian house on the cover. The information on the front flap sounded good, so I checked it out. I'm glad I did.

Trina Maxwell is a 5th grader who has spent most of her life moving around. Her father is a carpenter who restores houses. Her mother left eight years ago. Trina treasures the postcards her mom sends her from around the world.

The current project, the restoration of a Victorian house named 'Goldenrod,' could take as long as a year. Trina is looking forward to spending an entire school year in the same school. (This former Air Force brat sympathizes.) She's also looking forward to living at Goldenrod.

Trina's enthusiasm for the house dies when she sees it. It seems spooky. Her enthusiasm for going to school in New Royal, Iowa, dies when she meets her classmates, especially mean girl Charlotte. The school is having Trina be called by her real name, 'Citrine '. Charlotte uses a rhyming word to give her a hateful nickname.

Although 'Poppo' tells Trina there is no such thing as a haunted house, the folks in New Royal believe that Goldenrod is haunted. Her classmates don't believe that Trina is actually living there. After all, New Royal kids have been trying to spend the night at Goldenrod since old Miss Kitty of the Cat's Meow diner was a kid. No one ever made it through the entire night. (Trina learns this after spending her first, hardly restful night there.)

Then Trina finds her way into the house's turret room. There she discovers a shabby dollhouse with one little porcelain doll in it. I loved it when the doll starts talking to Trina. It's August, so the doll is dubbed 'Augustine'.

Trina not only helps her father restore the main house, she works on restoring the doll house to its former splendor. Trina's efforts to find out more about the family who first owned Goldenrod and their little girl, Annie, who owned Augustine, take her to the New Royal Public Library. There librarian Peter Kinghorn answers some of her questions. It's a sad story. Poor Annie was born before an effective vaccine was widely available.

I didn't know why the house was almost completely empty when the Maxwells got there. What happened to the furnishings and how they come back is a running subplot. I'm particularly impressed by the large and heavy dining room table's disappearance.

Another subplot is Augustine's obsession with fairy tales. She wants to find her prince. This leads to a tense and comic scene at school.

I think it's interesting that citrine, which is one of what used to be called semi precious gemstones, is often golden colored. If you believe that crystals have power, the powers claimed for citrine are certainly what Trina needs. Trina may have her own needs, but she also has the feeling that Goldenrod needs her. If only she could figure out what the house is trying to tell her.

Whether or not the house is haunted seems to be answered one stormy evening after Trina and her father have a very big quarrel. Mike Maxwell meant it for the best, but Trina doesn't feel that way. I don't blame her for that, either.

Various mysteries get solved, Augustine is pleased, and Trina finds some of her wishes coming true in a story that I would have loved to have read when I was the target age (8 - 12), and still loved reading although I'm 63.

Notes:

Chapter 1 Mentions:: Rapunzel and Davenport, Iowa,

Chapter 2 Mentions:: Goldilocks, Rocky Mountains, Lake Superior, Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies, Diamondbacks, Oregon, Crazy Eights, Portland,

Chapter 3:

a. New Royal's population is 397 people, according to their sign.

b. Some of the town buildings are named, including the Cat's Meow Diner.

c. Miss Kitty talks about 'The Dare' game.

Chapter 4:

a. It's Trina's first day at school.

b. We're introduced to her most important classmates.

Mentions:: Cedar Rapids, Santa Fe, the Grand Canyon, Arizona, New Mexico, and New Zealand,

Chapter 5 We meet Augustine.:

Mentions: Grimm's Fairy Tales, Wisconsin, Oregon, Paris, France;

Chapter 6: Mr. Hank of Hank's Tool and Lumber brings a surprise.

Chapter 7:

a. Trina first reads to Augustine.

b. Trina trips over a discovery.

c. We get some of Goldenrod's history.

Mention: Briar Rose

Chapter 8:

a. Trina visits the New Royal Public Library and meets librarian Peter Kinghorn.

b. The town newspaper is the 'New Royal Register'.

c. We learn more about why the residents of New Royal consider Goldenrod the cause of their bad luck.

d. Mr. Kinghorn was the first and only person to be kicked out of the Dare club.

Mentions: diphtheria, Great Expectations, The Jungle Book, The Thousand and One Nights (also known as The Arabian Nights), and Aesop's Fables

Chapter 9:

a. 'Shone' is for light and reflections of light when they aren't the object. 'Shined' is used if some one has been shining something. When Trina polished the dollhouse banister, it shone, not shined.

b. Augustine talks about her missing parents.

c. Trina and Augustine visit the attic.

Mention: Snow White

Chapter 10: Tina looks in a photo album.

Chapter 12 Trina makes goldenrod tea.:

Mentions: ''Farmer's Almanac' and Antarctica

Chapter 13: Miss Dale visits Goldenrod.

Chapter 14:

a. Trina takes Augustine to school.

b. We meet Prince the bullfrog.

Mentions: the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Louvre

Chapter 16: Trina puts two and two together.

Mentions: the Taj Mahal, India, the Pacific Ocean, Africa, Timbuktu, Eiffel Tower, the Gingerbread Man, Colorado, Oregon

Chapter 17: Charlotte and Edward decide to verify.

Chapter 19: Augustine gives wise advice.

Chapter 20: Trina's dad talks about her mom.

Mentions: Lake Michigan, New York, Los Angeles

Chapter 21: Ahem -- a tomato costume would could be used to go as one from the 1978 movie 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes' or its 1990-1991 cartoon spinoff with the same title.

Mentions: Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Cinderella, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Robin Hood, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter,

Chapter 22: Look here for prospective names for softball teams

Chapter 23 Mention: St. Louis, Missouri

Chapter 24:

a. Augustine has a big request.

b. It was the witches of the North and South who were good in the first Oz book.

c. Clarence the Angel is from that lovely movie, 'It's a Wonderful Life'.

d. Sherlock Holmes' deerstalker cap-wearing was started in 1891 by his illustrator, Sidney Paget, not his author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, so a top hot is fine.

c. 'Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms' is the song used in old Warner Brothers cartoons where a musical instrument is rigged to explode, but the intended victim keeps missing that note.

Mentions: Luke Skywalker, the Wicked Witch of the East, Dorothy [Gale], Pippi Longstocking, Little Bo Peep, King Kong, the Tin Woodsman, Paul Bunyan, Clarence the Angel, Mrs. Whatsit, Sherlock Holmes… (meer)

*I received an advance copy of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very heartfelt, poignant novel about a young boy struggling with OCD after the death of his grandfather. Believing his grandfather's death to be his fault, Cooper invents rituals he must complete in order to prevent the rest of his family from dying. These same rituals end up causing a rift in Cooper's family; his father just can't understand or accept him. But with the help of his sister who is "becoming more and more believable every day" and some new friends he makes along the way, Cooper gradually begins to understand that he can't control everything, and that he wasn't responsible for his grandfather's death.

At times this novel got quite heavy. It deals with some mature themes, such as death, grief, mental illness and the stigma that comes with it. Cooper is wise beyond his years, always scribbling down words of wisdom in his notebook. I'm tempted to recommend this book only to older readers, but the prose isn't that difficult, and I think the author does a really good job of portraying a highly misunderstood mental illness. So while I'm not sure that every reader will enjoy this story, I think it definitely deserves to be read far and wide.… (meer)