Savvy by Ingrid Law (English) Paperback Book

Description: Savvy by Ingrid Law For generations, the Beaumont family has harbored a magical secret. They each possess a savvy--a supernatural power they acquire at 13. On the eve of Mibss big day, she finds herself on an unforgettable odyssey that will force her to make sense of growing up. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Thirteen is when a Beaumont's savvy hits—and with one brother who causes hurricanes and another who creates electricity, Mibs Beaumont is eager to see what she gets. But just before the big day, Poppa is in a terrible accident. And now all Mibs wants is a savvy that will save him. In fact, Mibs is so sure she'll get a powerful savvy that she sneaks a ride to the hospital on a rickety bus with her sibling and the preacher's kids in tow. After this extraordinary adventure—full of talking tattoos and a kidnapping—not a soul on board will ever be the same.A Discussion Guide to "Scumble" and "Savvy" by Ingrid Law Author Biography Ingrid Law has sold shoes, worked in a bookstore, helped other people get jobs, and assembled boxes for frozen eggplant burgers. She and her twelve-year-old daughter live in Boulder, Colorado, in a lovely old mobile home that they like to believe is a cross between a spaceship and a shoe box. They enjoy writing on its walls and painting on its ceiling, and have two harps, a flute, and a ukulele, as well as a fondness for muffins. Prizes Short-listed for Rhode Island Childrens Book Awards 2010 Promotional "Headline" Thirteen is when a Beaumonts savvy hits-and with one brother who causes hurricanes and another who creates electricity, Mibs Beaumont is eager to see what she gets. But just before the big day, Discussion Question for Reading Group Guide INTRODUCTION For generations, the Beaumont family has harbored a secret. They each possess a "savvy"--a special power that strikes when they turn thirteen. Grandpa Bomba moves mountains, Mibss older brothers create hurricanes and spark electricity...and now its the eve of Mibss big day. As if waiting for her savvy to show up wasnt hard enough, Mibss family gets scary news two days before her birthday: Poppa has been in a terrible accident. With the hope that her new power will save Poppa, Mibs sneaks onto a salesmans bus bound for the hospital... only to find the bus heading in the opposite direction. Suddenly, Mibs finds herself on an unforgettable odyssey that will force her to make sense of growing up--and of other people, who might also have a few secrets hidden just beneath the skin. ABOUT INGRID LAW Ingrid Law is a writer and an artist. She is the author and illustrator of two e-books for children, and her artwork has appeared in local and national art shows in the US. She lives in Colorado with her teenage daughter. Savvy is her first novel. A CONVERSATION WITH INGRID LAW Q: What inspired Savvy ? Watching my own daughter, I am constantly reminded of the challenges young people face--the struggle for identity, the enormous physical and emotional changes, the often conflicting voices of parents, friends, teachers, and media. While these challenges may not manifest themselves as hurricanes and electrical sparks in real life, I think they can feel just as powerful and out of control to the young person navigating them. Q: What do you think your savvy would be? If I could choose, I think I would like to fly or breathe underwater. When I was a kid, I was convinced that I could see air--see its movements and patterns through a room--but everyone insisted that it was impossible. Ive always wondered how many things are impossible only because we are told they are. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Mibs wishes, at least temporarily, that her savvy could "give [her] the muscle to turn nasty girls into slimy green frogs or to glue their mouths shut tight with a nod of [her] head." (p. 17) Why do the girls in Mibss class make fun of her? What would you do in her place? The Beaumonts have to keep their savvies a secret from everyone. Would that be difficult for you? Do you think everyone has a secret? Who would you trust with your big secrets? Why does Rosemary Meeks come to the Beaumont house? How are things different with the Meeks family around? Is her influence on the Beaumont house positive or negative? Describe Mibss relationship with her parents and siblings. How is it complicated by their savvies? What are the positive and negative aspects of having siblings with extraordinary powers? Grandpa says to Mibs, "Your savvys in your blood. Its an inheritance, like your brown eyes or your grandmas long toes or her talent for dancing to polka music." (p. 121) Are people born with special talents or do they have to work at developing their unique abilities? Are there any talents you wish you had? Explain how Mibs ends up on a bible delivery bus with Bobbi, Will, Fish, and Samson. Where do they hope to arrive? How do things go awry? Which scene in their wild adventure is your favorite? "Perhaps Samsons strengthening touch was just an ordinary sort of human magic, the kind of magic that exists in the honest, heartfelt concern of one person for another." (p. 113) Explain "ordinary human magic" in your own words. Give another example of "ordinary human magic" you find in Savvy . Slowly, Mibs discovers the way her savvy works. How does she figure it out? How is it different from the savvy that she originally hoped for? In the last year, what have you, like Mibs, discovered about yourself? How does Lill Kiteley end up on the bus? What would you say is her special know-how? How does she use that know-how during her time on the bus and how does it affect the passengers? How does Mibss relationship with Will and Bobbi change over the course of the adventure? Who do you think changes the most in the story? Fish and Rocket have a terrible time scumbling their savvies. How does this cause a ruckus for the Beaumont clan and others who know them? Are there any parts of your own personality that you have a difficult time controlling? Is it better to tone down parts of yourself so that you fit in society or is it more important to be yourself completely? Momma warns Mibs that, "You cant get rid of part of what makes you you and be happy." (p. 186) What makes you you ? How do you let that special part shine through? When Mibs thinks about Wills obvious feelings for her she realizes that it"[makes her] feel too young and too old at the same time." (p. 223) Do you feel like kids today are forced to grow up too fast? How might different aspects of modern life (the media, school, friends, etc.) affect the ways in which kids mature? After listening to so many voices in her head throughout the novel, what does Mibs discover about the voices that she and others listen to? Is their anything that boosts or stifles your confidence? How can you drown out the voices that dont matter? What do you think makes Poppa wake up at last? Do you think it has anything to do with one of the Beaumonts savvies? Excerpt from Book Savvy - Chapter One wHen my brotHer FisH turned tHirteen, we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that hed caused it. I had liked living down southontheedgeofland,nexttothepushing-pullingwaves. I had liked it with a mighty kind of liking, so moving had been hard--hard like the pavement the first time I fell off my pink two-wheeler and my palms burned like fire from all of the hurt just under the skin. But it was plain that fish could live nowhere near or nearby or next to or close to or on or around any largish bodies of water. Water had a way of triggering my brother and making ordinary, everyday weather take a frightening turn for the worse. Unlike any normal hurricane, fishs birthday storm had started without warning. One minute, my brother was tearing paper from presents in our backyard near the beach; the next minute, both fish and the afternoon sky went a funny and fearsome shade of gray. My brother gripped the edge of the picnic table as the wind kicked up around him, gaining momentum and ripping the wrapping paper out of his hands, sailing it high up into the sky with all of the balloons and streamers roiling together and disintegrating like a birthday party in a blender. Groaning and cracking, trees shuddered and bent over double, uprooting and falling as easily as sticks in wet sand. Rain pelted us like gravel thrown by a playground bully as windows shattered and shingles ripped off the roof. As the storm surged and the ocean wavestossedandchurned,spillingragingwateranddebris farther and farther up the beach, Momma and Poppa grabbed hold of fish and held on tight, while the rest of us ran for cover. Momma and Poppa knew what was happening. They had been expecting something like this and knew that they had to keep my brother calm and help him ride out his storm. That hurricane had been the shortest on record, but to keep the coastal towns safe from our fish, our family had packed up and moved deep inland, plunging into the very heart of the land and stopping as close to the center of the country as we could get. There, without big water to fuel big storms, fish could make it blow and rain without so much heartache and ruin. Settling directly between Nebraska and Kansas in a little place all our own, just off Highway 81, we were well beyond hollering distance from the nearest neighbor, which was the best place to be for a family like ours. The closest town was merely a far-off blur across the highway, and was not even big enough to have its own school or store, or gas station or mayor. Monday through Wednesday, we called our thin stretch of land Kansaska. Thursday through Saturday, we called it Nebransas. On Sundays, since that was the Lords Day, we called it nothing at all, out of respect for His creating our world without the lines already drawn on its face like all my grandpas wrinkles. If it werent for old Grandpa Bomba, Kansaska-Nebransas wouldnt even have existed for us to live there. When Grandpa wasnt a grandpa and was just instead a small-fry, hobbledehoy boy blowing out thirteen dripping candles on a lopsided cake, his savvy hit him hard and sudden--just like it did to fish that day of the backyard birthday party and the hurricane--and the entire state of Idaho got made. At least, thats the way Grandpa Bomba always told the story. "Before I turned thirteen," hed say, "Montana bumped dead straight into Washington, and Wyoming and Oregon shared a cozy border." The tale of Grandpas thirteenth birthday had grown over the years just like the land he could move and stretch, and Momma just shook her head and smiled every time hed start talking tall. But in truth, that young boy who grew up and grew old like wine and dirt, had been making new places whenever and wherever he pleased. That was Grandpas savvy. My savvy hadnt come along yet. But I was only two days away from my very own thirteen dripping candles--though my mommas cakes never lopped to the side or to the middle. Mommas cakes were perfect, just like Momma, because that was her savvy. Momma was perfect. Anything she made was perfect. Everything she did was perfect. Even when she messed up, Momma messed up perfectly. I often reckoned what it would be like for me. I pictured myself blowing out the candles on my cake and fires dying in chimneys across four counties. Or I imagined making my secret birthday wish--getting my cheeks full and round with air--then floating up toward the ceiling like my very own happy birthday balloon. "My savvy is going to be a good one," I told my brother Rocket. "I just know it." "Girls dont get the powerful jujubes," said Rocket, running one hand through his dark shock of unkempt hair with a crackle of static. "Girls only get quiet, polite savvies--sugar and spice and everything humdrum savvies. Its boys who get the earthshaking kinds of savvy." I had scowled at my brother and stuck out my tongue. Rocket and I both knew that there were plenty of girls climbing round our family tree that had strong and sturdy savvies, like Great-aunt Jules, who could step back twenty minutes in time every time she sneezed; or our second cousin Olive, who could melt ice with a single red-hot stare. Rocket was seventeen and full of junk that I wasnt allowed to say until I got much, much older. But he was electric through and through, and that had always gone to his head. for fun, Rocket would make my hair stand on end like hed rubbed it with a balloon, or hit fish with a wicked zap from the other side of the room. But Rocket could keep the lights on when the power went out, and our family sure liked that, especially the littler Beaumonts. Rocket was the oldest, with fish and me following after. Born only a year apart, fish and I were nearly the same height and looked a lot alike, both with hair like sand and straw--hair like Mommas. But while I had Poppas hazel eyes, fish had Mommas ocean blue ones. It was as if wed each taken a little bit of Momma, or a little bit of Poppa, and made the rest our own. I wasnt the youngest or the smallest in the family; broody Samson was a dark and shadowy seven, and doll-faced Gypsy was three. It was Gypsy who started calling me Mibs, when my full name, Mississippi, became far too much for her toothsome toddler tongue to manage. But that had been a relief. That name had always followed me around like one of fishs heavy storm clouds. The itch and scritch of birthday buzz was about all I was feeling on the Thursday before the friday before the Saturday I turned thirteen. Sitting at the dinner table, next to Poppas empty chair and ready plate, I barely ate a bite. Across from me, Gypsy prattled endlessly, counting the make-believe creatures she imagined seeing in the room, and begging me to help her name them. I pushed the food around my plate, ignoring my sister and daydreaming about what it would be like when I got my very own savvy, when the telephone rang right in the middle of pot roast, mashed potatoes, and mighty unpopular green beans. As Momma rose to answer, us kids, and Grandpa Bomba too, seized the chance to plop our mashers on top of our beans while Mommas back was turned. Samson tucked some of those beans into his pockets to give to his dead pet turtle, even though Momma always said he shouldnt be giving it any of our good food, seeing how it was dead and all, and the food would just go to rot. But Samson was sure as sadly sure that his turtle was only hibernating, and Momma hadnt the heart to toss it from the house. We were all smiling to each other around the kitchen table at the smart way wed taken care of those beans when Momma dropped the phone with a rattling clatter and a single sob--perfectly devastated. She sank to the floor, looking for all the world as if she were staring right through the checkered brown and blue linoleum to behold the burning hot-lava core at the very center of the Earth. "Its Poppa," Momma said in a choked voice, as her perfect features stretched and pinched. A gust of wind burst from fishs side of the table, blowing everyones hair and sending our paper napkins flying pell-mell onto the floor. The air in the room grew warm and humid as though the house itself had broken out into a ripe, nervous sweat, and the many dusty, tightly lidded, empty-looking jars that lined the tops of all the cupboards rattled and clinked like a hundred toasting glasses. Outside it was already raining fish rain--drops hastened from a sprinkle to a downpour in seconds as fish stared, wide-eyed and gaping like his namesake, holding back his fear but unable to scumble his savvy. "Momma?" Rocket ventured. The air around him crackled with static, and his T-shirt clung to him like socks to towels straight from the dryer. The lights in the house pulsed, and blue sparks popped and snapped at the tips of his nervous, twitching fingers. Momma looked at Poppas empty chair and waiting plate, then she turned to us, chin trembling, and told us about the accident on the highway. She told us how Poppas car had gotten crushed up bad, like a pop can under a cowboy boot, and how hed gone and forgotten to get out before it happened, landing himself in a room and a bed at Salina Hope Hospital, where now he lay broken and asleep, not able to wake up. "Dont fret, child," Grandpa consoled Momma as though they were back in time and Momma was still a young girl sitting on his knee crying over a broken doll. "Those doctors know whats what. Theyll fix your fellow up in no time. Theyll get his buttons sewn back on." Grandpa Bombas tone was soft and reassuring. But as the strobe-like flashes from Rockets nervous sparks lit Grandpas face, I could see the worry etched deep into all his wrinkles. For half Details ISBN0142414336 Author Ingrid Law Short Title SAVVY Publisher Puffin Books Language English ISBN-10 0142414336 ISBN-13 9780142414330 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY FIC Pages 342 Birth 1970 Audience Age 8-12 Imprint Puffin Country of Publication United States Place of Publication New York Audience Children/Juvenile Year 2010 Publication Date 2010-03-23 UK Release Date 2010-03-23 US Release Date 2010-03-23 NZ Release Date 2016-10-31 AU Release Date 2016-10-31 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:43648004;

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