about the book
There is something wrong with Beignet “Benny” Summer’s father, and Benny knows it. The year is 1983, the beginning of the computer revolution. Benny’s father is a hoarder, and any scrap computer parts he can find he keeps in their already junk-crowded home. Pizza boxes, motorcycle parts, broken computer bits, and all manner of things might be of use some day, his father reasons.
Benny’s mother draws the last straw when his father finds a splinter of wood and insists it is part of the True Cross. She leaves, moving back to her native New Orleans, promising to come back for Benny.
Either she never will, or she is taking her sweet time. Benny begins chaffing underneath his father’s increasing hoarding behavior and paranoia, never leaving the house for fear someone will come take his things. Benny takes refuge with his neighbors, particularly his father’s friend Myron, who wants to help.
Myron gives Benny a job transcribing interviews for his small radio station, which is how Benny meets the new schoolteacher Miss Turnipson. Miss Turnipson has entered their small town in a contest to find “America’s Most Charming Small Town.” Maybe with the prospect of winning a prize, along with pressure from everyone around him, Benny’s father will give up his hoarding and clean up his life?
about the author
Kate Klise was born and raised in Peoria, Illinois, the fourth child in a family of six. She shared her bedroom and much more with her younger sister Sarah. She remembers telling secrets, giggling, and dressing up their cats.
When she was ten Kate wrote her first book, with a complex plot about a mouse’s devious plan to break into a vending machine and steal a bag of corn curls. She gave it to her older sister as a Christmas gift.
Her sister promptly threw it out!
Meanwhile their dad was hiding out on the third floor of the house, writing his first novel. Years later, after the girls were grown, he gave it to them as a Christmas present. It is their very favorite book!
Both Kate and Sarah graduated from Marquette University in Wisconsin. With writing so much a part of their lives, they started collaborating on books, Kate doing the writing while Sarah illustrated.
Kate now lives on a 40-acre farm in Norwood, Missouri. When she is not writing she likes to roller-blade on the country roads. Besides writing children’s books, she is a correspondent for People magazine. She also wrote a musical play titled (Really) Grim Fairy Tales.
Sources:
Author website
Also by Kate Klise:
Grounded. Fiewel and Friends. 2010.
Stand Straight, Ella Kate. Dial. 2010.
Far From Normal. Scholastic. 2006.
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