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Title details for Chirp by Kate Messner - Available

Chirp

by Kate Messner
Merissa Czyz
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
From acclaimed author Kate Messner comes the powerful story of a young girl with the courage to make her voice heard, set against the backdrop of a summertime mystery. When Mia moves to Vermont the summer after seventh grade, she's recovering from the broken arm she got falling off a balance beam. And packed away in the moving boxes under her clothes and gymnastics trophies is a secret she'd rather forget. Mia's change in scenery brings day camp, new friends, and time with her beloved grandmother. But Gram is convinced someone is trying to destroy her cricket farm. Is it sabotage or is Gram's thinking impaired from the stroke she suffered months ago? Mia and her friends set out to investigate, but can they uncover the truth in time to save Gram's farm? And will that discovery empower Mia to confront the secret she's been hiding—and find the courage she never knew she had? In a compelling story rich with friendship, science, and summer fun, a girl finds her voice while navigating the joys and challenges of growing up.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 4, 2020

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781980067382
      • File size: 143820 KB
      • Duration: 04:59:37

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from November 18, 2019
      When Mia’s grandma has a mild stroke, the middle schooler’s family moves from Boston to Burlington, Vt., to help her grandmother sell her cricket farm. As a former entomology professor and entomophagist, however, Gram is determined to get more people eating protein-rich crickets and expand the farm—if she can first figure out who is sabotaging it. With the help of two friends she meets at Launch Camp for Young Entrepreneurs, Mia—a fearless gymnast until an injury and a painful secret leaves her uncertain and cautious—creates a business plan for Gram’s cricket farm and starts sleuthing for Gram’s
      saboteur. But doing so means that Mia must find both her courage and her voice. Messner addresses #MeToo themes authentically and with care as her story moves toward empowerment: Mia displays fear and confusion alongside a hope to reclaim the strength she once felt as a gymnast. Layering mystery elements, strong and myriad female characters, and a poignant analogy involving chirp-less female crickets, Messner gently guides Mia on a journey of resilience that both comforts and inspires. Ages 10–14. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Marissa Czyz portrays the sadness Mia carries. It's more than the dread and anger she's feeling because her parents are forcing her to attend summer camps instead of watching TV, as she's been doing since her gymnastics injury the year before. She's cheered, however, about returning to be with her grandmother, an entomologist, who runs a cricket farm. Soon Mia is swept up in helping her grandmother succeed at promoting crickets as an alternate food source and at solving the mystery of who is sabotaging these efforts. Czyz dramatizes Mia's changes from reluctance to enjoyment of both camps and the new friends she makes. Still, the sadness lurks. Finally, when she reveals sexual harassment by her former gymnastics coach, her despair lifts, and she's able to break through to rediscover her joy and power. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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