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Thirteen-year-old Persephone Pearl Clark has never met a plant that wouldn’t bud or bloom for her. But lately, between the accident that left her older brother, Levi, with an irreversible brain injury, a messy fight with her once-best friend Mya, and a pile of lies growing faster than the stack of medical bills she collects from the post office every day, Persephone is stuck. She would give anything to change things for her family, but unfortunately, money doesn’t grow on trees.
So, when she stumbles upon Levi's unfinished application submitting their hometown of Coulter, Wisconsin, to Small Town Revival—the famous makeover show with a large financial prize attached—Persephone forges her older brother's signature and sends it in. She is certain she’s carrying out a dream Levi never got the chance to see to fruition. But as small-town gossip takes root and Persephone’s lies grow like weeds, the things that once bloomed for her are wilting instead.
With the help of unexpected allies including a wonderful but peculiar old woman and her possibly magical cat, Persephone learns that while planting the seeds of truth is never easy, everything blooms when it’s ready.
* "A compassionate, thought-provoking take on family, friendship, grief, and renewal." –Kirkus
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
August 23, 2022 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593589106
- File size: 245887 KB
- Duration: 08:32:15
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 760
- Text Difficulty: 3-4
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Reviews
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June 20, 2022
A week after Persephone Pearl Clark’s 12th birthday, her lifeguard older brother Levi sustained a traumatic brain injury in a swimming accident, leaving her family bereft and in substantial medical debt. A year later, she takes small comfort in her incredible ability to make plants grow and bloom, developing what is seen as an increasingly “prickly” attitude and telling a sequence of lies. The biggest is the application she forges in Levi’s name, submitting their small Wisconsin town for consideration on the siblings’ favorite reality show, Small Town Revival, with a goal of covering the family’s bills—and getting her brother further treatment—with the $100,000 prize. As Persephone revitalizes a perhaps magical neighbor’s overgrown garden for the show, tension escalates around her deceptions and Levi’s accident. Thoughtfully exploring the dark aspects of potential reality television fame, and employing nuanced character relationships, a small-town atmosphere, and a prevailing sense of hope, Hautala (The Ostrich and Other Lost Things) traces grief’s complications with refreshing bluntness and honesty (“Sometimes, anger is just sadness wearing a suit of armor”). Most characters read as white. Ages 10—up. Agent: Danielle Chiotti, Upstart Crow Literary.
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