He called himself a Jack-of-all-trades (Jack was his real name), but sometimes there wasn’t any trade in whatever town we were living in, so off he would go in search of a job somewhere else. My father was a trucker, or sometimes a mechanic or a picker, a plucker or painter.

In my first life, I lived with my mother, and my older brother and sister, Crick and Stella, and with my father when he wasn’t on the road. 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.' Read more Switzerland begins to be more than a temporary home-it becomes a part of Dinnnie herself, the self she never knew she could be. Her joys and struggles make up a rich tapestry of experiences she can find nowhere else. Home and her first life seem so far away.īut new friendships and the awesome beauty of Switzerland begin to unlock thoughts and dreams within her. 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.Īll at once she finds herself in a foreign country, surrounded by kids from different cultures speaking all sorts of languages and sharing various beliefs. 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.

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

Bloomability book