The Secret of Goldenrod

  • Interest Level: Grade 3 - Grade 6
  • Reading Level: Grade 3

When Trina and her father move into an abandoned wreck of a mansion called Goldenrod, Trina thinks her life is finally coming together. She can put down roots at last. Maybe she’ll even have a best friend! But the kids at school make fun of her, and it seems like Goldenrod itself is haunted.

Then Trina finds Augustine, a tiny porcelain doll left behind when the house was boarded up a century ago. Augustine isn’t like other dolls: she talks and talks and talks. Augustine helps Trina realize that Goldenrod is trying to tell her an important secret . . . one that may just change her life.

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978-1-5124-0135-6
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Interest Level Grade 3 - Grade 6
Reading Level Grade 3
Copyright 2016
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Carolrhoda Books ®
Language English
Number of Pages 376
Publication Date 2016-10-01
Reading Counts! Level 4.5
Text Type Fiction
BISACS JUV058000, JUV028000, JUV040000
Dewey [Fic]
Dimensions 5.5 x 8.25
Lexile 740
Guided Reading Level V
ATOS Reading Level 4.9
Accelerated Reader® Quiz 183240
Accelerated Reader® Points 14.0
Features Author/Illustrator biography, Awards, Reviewed, and Starred Reviews

Author: Jane O'Reilly

Jane O'Reilly is the author of the acclaimed middle grade novels, The Secret of Goldenrod and The Notations of Cooper Cameron. She is the recipient of a McKnight Fellowship in Screenwriting and also holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. The youngest of five children, she grew up in an old house, enjoyed her early summers traveling the USA and Mexico on family road trips, and spent her teenage summers in the North Woods at the cabin her grandfather built. Curious about nearly everything, Jane and her stories are inspired by small towns, old houses and the universal need for hope. Although born and raised in Minnesota, Jane and her husband, John, and dog, Poppy, now call Des Moines, Iowa, home.

Awards

  • Kirkus Best Middle-Grade Books of the Year, Winner, 2016

Reviews

Booklist

“[A] wistful and superlative coming-of-age story. . . . Perfect for readers who crave contemporary stories that feel like a classic, this is one to be re-read and enjoyed many times over.”—starred, Booklist

Publishers Weekly

“[A] gentle debut. . . . This is a memorable and complex tale about negotiating change and coming into one’s own.”—Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews

“[P]itch-perfect . . . O’Reilly’s multilayered story is superbly presented . . . [and] bathed in the golden light that is the richness of living. This solid middle-grade book shines with wisdom and compassion.”—starred, Kirkus Reviews

School Library Journal

“[A] unique twist on the traditional haunted house story. . . . A strong additional purchase for those who enjoyed Jennifer Chambliss Bertman’s Book Scavenger and Tess Hilmo’s With a Name Like Love.”—School Library Journal