By: Sandra Kring Publisher: Delta Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Delta Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 320 Publication Date: May 30, 2006 Release Date: May 30, 2006
Product Description: Wisconsin, 1961. Evelyn “Button” Peters is nine the summer Winnalee and her fiery-spirited older sister, Freeda, blow into her small town–and from the moment she sees them, Button knows this will be a summer unlike any other.
Much to her mother’s dismay, Button is fascinated by the Malone sisters, especially Winnalee, a feisty scrap of a thing who carries around a shiny silver urn containing her mother’s ashes and a tome she calls “The Book of Bright Ideas.” It is here, Winnalee tells Button, that she records everything she learns: her answers to the mysteries of life. But sometimes those mysteries conceal a truth better left buried. And when a devastating secret is suddenly revealed, dividing loyalties and uprooting lives, no one–from Winnalee and her sister to Button and her family–will ever be the same.
Wonderful Coming of Age Story This book came highly recommended, and I must say I loved every minute of it. It was also a very quick read.
The story takes place in 1961 in Wisconsin where we meet nine year old Evelyn "Button" Peters , the narrator of the story. Button's summer is about to change her life forever when the Malone sisters show up in town. Freeda 25, is beautiful, headstrong, and uninhibited, her 10-year-old sister Winnalee, is bold, inquisitive and she walks around shoeless, carrying an urn holding her mother's ashes, along with a notebook she called her "Book of Bright Ideas". It is in this book that Winnalee records everything she learns: her answers to the mysteries of life.
Bright Idea #1: If you take an ugly girl and you dress her up in a pretty pink dress, lacy anklets, and plunk a homemade bow on her head, you're not going to get a pretty girl. All you're going to get is an ugly girl in a pretty dress, lacy anklets, with a bow plunked on her head.
The two girls become like sisters. I could feel the utter sense of happiness when Winnalee told Button that she was her best friend, and I also felt Button's pain when she is forced to keep a dark secret from her friend.
This book is a wonderful coming of age story which reminds us to appreciate the little things in life, and to view the world through the eyes of a child now and then. This is a story of life, love, friendship and pain. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
The Best Ideas What a wonderful world it would be if we could live life through the ideas of Winnalie. A child who has a way of seeing the best of life during difficult times, living with her sister and discovering the hidden secrets of her life. How she forms a friendship with "Button" and her family. To say that Sandra Kring is an author is an understatement. Ms. Kring can only be compared to Pat Conroy. Her gift of words will bring tears to your eyes and make your heart ache for more! "The Book of Bright Ideas" is a book you will treasure and read anytime you feel life is getting too hard to handle. The summer of 1961 is a time the reader will never forget
Here's a bright idea....read this book! If you are looking for a fun heartwarming story that reminds you of how much fun it was to be a little girl, and how proud you are now to be a strong woman this is for you. I have bought this book for all the important women in my life, and everyone has loved it. The imagination these characters posses make me long for days gone by, when afternoons were occupied by hide and seek, and creating potions out of your mom's medicine cabinet! Step into a time when life was a little slower, and people cared just a little bit more. This book is a relaxing vacation from the hustle and bustle of the Blackberry world we live in.
The Book of Bright Ideas I thought that the book was written for a younger audience. The character of the mother was too flippant and her use of language got old fast. The children were very likeable and believable. I guessed almost immediately the true relationship between the newcomers to the town. I didn't like the ending. The two of them just up and leaving left such a whole in the story and created lots of questions for the reader, which can be good and bad. Booklover-Wisconsin
Cute story While slow is some spots, overall "The Book of Bright Ideas" was a good story. It's about friendship and trying to be a better, less messed up person.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tony's Online Tips
Trevor
