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    Reaching for Sun
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    Reaching for Sun
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    Reaching for Sun
    Ebook132 pages53 minutes

    Reaching for Sun

    By Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Josie Wyatt knows what it means to be different. Her family's small farmhouse seems to shrink each time another mansion grows up behind it. She lives with her career-obsessed mom and opinionated Gran, but has never known her father. Then there's her cerebral palsy: even if Josie wants to forget that she was born with a disability, her mom can't seem to let it go. Yet when a strange new boy-Jordan-moves into one of the houses nearby, he seems oblivious to all the things that make Josie different. Before long, Josie finds herself reaching out for something she's never really known: a friend... and possibly more. Interlinked free verse poems tell the beautiful, heartfelt story of a girl, a family farm reduced to a garden, and a year of unforgettable growth.

    About the Author

    TRACIE VAUGHN ZIMMER's first teaching assignment was special education. She taught high school students with autism and middle school children with developmental and learning disabilities. She holds a master's degree in reading education and is the author of a book of poetry, Sketches from a Spy Tree (Clarion). She loves living in Waxhaw, North Carolina, with her family but will always consider Ohio her home. www.tracievaughnzimmer.com
    Reviews « "Josie's strength shines as she handles sadness and loss as well as recovery and progress. Readers living with a disability or trying to understand others seem like the target audience, but Josie's voice has a universal appeal," -Kirkus Reviews, starred review "Written in verse, this quick-reading, appealing story will capture readers' hearts with its winsome heroine and affecting situations." -Booklist "Garden imagery wends its way through this eloquent free verse novel. ...Zimmer infuses Josie's story with distinctive auxiliary characters." -Horn Book "An easy-reading drama that may particularly entice reluctant readers." -The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "Readers of all levels will enjoy spending tim
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateApr 10, 2011
    ISBN9781599908120
    Unavailable
    Reaching for Sun
    Author

    Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

    Tracie Vaughn Zimmer has worked as a special education teacher and reading specialist. She is also the creator of more than 80 teacher's guides for numerous publishers (including Bloomsbury), and has published a book of poetry, Sketches from a Spy Tree, a NYPL Best Book. She lives in [Waxhaw, North Carolina.] www.tracievaughnzimmer.com

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    Reviews for Reaching for Sun

    4/5

    72 ratings15 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Hardcover (edit)review Reaching for Sun is the heartfelt story of Josie, a girl who lives with her mom and grandmother. Although, Josie has cerebral palsy she doesn't like to dwell on her disability, however, she feels like that is her mom's main focus. Her mom works and goes to school so they don't have a lot of time together and when they do it is spent working on Josie's speech using flash cards. When a new kid, Jordan,moves into the neighborhood behind her house they become fast friends. Jordan makes Josie feel special and is her first real friend. This book was so moving and beautifully written. The characters are wonderful all will leap off the page and into your heart. 5 stars!
    • 4/5
      More important than enjoyable. Almost no humor - and some is key, otherwise the characters don't feel quite real and I can't be bothered to care about them.

      Lots of messages, subtle and not so. For example, the bit about using Morse code to communicate with a stroke patient seems like a good idea, and it's the first I've heard of it.

      And though at first I was annoyed that Mom and Josie aren't a team working together to help Josie grow up to be the most capable adult she can be, I came to empathize with Mom having trouble seeing that her baby is growing up, and by the end they do learn to cooperate, so that's good.

      3.5 stars, rounded up, because I love the drawings and the literary selections signaling the beginning of each season.
    • 4/5
      This is a novel in verse, something I’m usually not a fan of, but I loved it here. Josie is a young teenager who has cerebral palsy, and no friends because of that. When Jordan moves into the neighborhood, he not only becomes Josie’s friend, but possibly more. Josie’s life fills with helping her grandmother garden, doing science experiments with Jordan, and volunteering at an old folks’ home. The seasons change and so does Josie - bonus if you get a hardcopy with a flip book flower in the lower right corner! I loved that this book didn’t focus on the fact that Josie has CP; it obviously affects her life, but isn’t the main point of the book.
    • 4/5
      6.Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer and published 2007 by Bloomsbury publishing, is a great Contemporary realistic Fiction chapter book written in free verse poetry instead of a traditional narrative. It is the story of Josie Wyatt, who has Cerebral Palsy, and the struggles and loneliness she faces until she meets Jordan. I found this book to be interesting. I have never read a chapter book that was written in poetry before. I liked how the chapters were organized, the flow of the poetry, and the growing flower in the bottom right corner of the pages. The chapters are very short, no longer than two pages. The chapters are organized into free verse poems telling the story from Josie’s point of view. There is no rhyming and the chapters go together like a normal narrative. I was intrigued why the author wrote like this so I did some research on the web. The author, Tracie Zimmer writes free verse because, like in poetry, Josie must choose her words carefully. I thought that this was really interesting because this gives us a peak into how Josie’s mind works. Josie writes the poems in a way to show her mood and how she is feeling. In like me (page 82) Josie writes about a bulldozer that is tearing down her favorite tree. She writes “Why can’t they see that held sill blooms- like me?” the language in this particular chapter seems like she is calling out for someone to see that she still has a lot left to her. This creates a flow in the following poems where she blossoms to a girl who comes out of her shy shell and speaks for herself. Through the book, on the bottom right hand side of every page, a flower is blooming. It starts on page three as an insignificant looking bulb. However, by page 181, it blossoms into a large beautiful flower. This is symbolic of Josie’s growth throughout the story. I like the use of symbology with the flower. Not only did it help to mark my progress in the book, it also helps me to see how Josie is maturing. The flower is representative of Josie growing out of her shell and making friends with Jordan. Independence and inner strength are key parts of the big idea of this story. Josie must gain and earn her independence through the many struggles of the book. She must also gain the inner strength to stand up to her mother and to make friends with Justin.
    • 3/5
      There are some books that will just stick with you wherever you go. Tracie Vaughn Zimmer’s newest novel Reaching for Sun is definitely one of those books. Heart-warming and inspiring, this novel follows 11-year old Josie – who has cerebral palsy.

      This book is AMAZING! Although it’s quick (it’s only 144 pages) and the actual “text” is fairly simple, the story itself is beyond complex. Readers will definitely be able to relate to Josie on a variety of levels, and they will find themselves laughing and crying along with Josie.

      I’ll admit something: I’m not the biggest fan of free verse. I picked Reaching for Sun up, and decided to give free verse another try. But…holy cow! This blew me away! It hardly feels like you’re even reading free verse. There is so much figurative language implanted everywhere – it truly adds to the emotional aspect of the story. I mean seriously…this is phenomenal! I will definitely be reading free verse again if it’s this good!
      “...My thumb will always be pasted to my palm, and my left wrist and shoulder connected by an invisible rubber band called cerebral palsy.”
      ~ page 6       My only critique is that the plot starts off just a *tad* slowly, but then it quickly picks up. (I know -- picky, picky…)

      I’d definitely recommend this to anyone interested in free verse or realistic fiction. This is definitely a story you won’t forget! Tracie Vaughn Zimmer…I am definitely reading more of your stories!
    • 4/5
      I didn't think I would like this book initially, since it is written as a series of free verse poetry. It was, however, quite wonderful.
    • 5/5
      A smart young girl named Josie, who happens to have cerebral palsy, lives lonely school days with no friends until she meets Jordan. Jordan's friendship takes her mind off of her mother, who is too busy finishing school to spend enough time at home, her father whom she doesn't know, and her disability. Her friendship with Jordan is the only thing she has outside of her family. Jordan doesn't care about her having cerebral palsy. He sees that she is more than her disability and enjoys her company. Josie finds solace and comfort in the fact that Jordan sees her just the way she is and still wants to be her friend. Josie has never had a friendship like this before. This novel is written in free verse poems. It's absolutely wonderful. The language and words the author uses for Josie to explain her feelings of loneliness and feelings of being unworthy are so real. It makes the reader feel what Josie feels. "With my odd walk and slow speech everyone knows I've got special ed, but if I wait until the hall clears, taunts like tomatoes don't splatter the back of my head" (Zimmer, Tracie Vaughn, pg. 4). What a perfect description of the embarrassment Josie felt everyday at school. I enjoy the way the author wrote this short novel. This is a great novel for kids to read to feel what someone like Josie feels. This novel will describe to kids the importance of making other people's feelings a top priority.
    • 5/5
      Reaching for Sun was a great lazy-day read that took me only about an hour from start to finish. It is written in a series of free-verse poems, which I love. I’ve come to find out that formatting is a big deal when it comes to novels in verse. All of my favorite books in verse share a common thread, the format, which is short and sweet. The lines are all short and to the point, each poem containing its own heading, kind off like a chapter title, that ties in with what is being said. This book was also broken into seasons, which I really liked. I thought it worked really well with the book because the story has so much to do with gardens and plants, which all change due to the season.The author made it easy to get into Josie’s head. Her thoughts were so true, so pure, so real. This was an uplifting, heartfelt story of a young girl finding her place and her voice in life.
    • 4/5
      Josie makes her first real friend, deals with the aftermath of her beloved Grandma's stroke, and learns to voice what she wants for her life in this brief novel written in verse. Josie has cerebral palsy and resents all the therapy she must endure. There are moments where the poetry sparkles.
    • 5/5
      Zimmer writes this book in free verse and beautifully tells the story of a teenage cerebral palsy girl and a year of her life. The book opens with Josie hiding out in the bathroom stall until right before the bell rings so she can avoid being picked on by students at school. She is very close with her grandmother, experiences a strained relationship with her mother who has a hard time just accepting Josie's condition, has no relationship with her father (who bailed on the family because of Josie's condition, and has no friends. Life on the family farm, that has been handed down each generation, is in stark contrast to the newly constructed mansions the wealthier families live in behind the farm. Surrounded by land and her grandmother's flowery gardens, Josie enjoys home life, especially during Christmas break when she doesn't have to attend school and hide out in the bathroom. Completely friendless, Josie meets new-to-the-neighborhood Jordan who is extremely bright. The two strike a close friendship and are teased at school "about being in love-the genius and the 'tard." (70) The friendship grows and Josie is happier than she has ever been. As summer approaches, Josie learns she will have to attend "clinic" and Jordan will be leaving for a four week long science camp. Completely annoyed with her mother's insistence on being in therapy, she decides to lie and say the sessions end early so she can spend time with Jordan before he leaves for camp. Her grandmother finds out, threatens to tell if Josie doesn't, then has a stroke. The guilt and shame of lying to her mother, grandmother and friend are dealt with while her grandmother is recovering in the hospital. Zimmer creates a lovable character and reminds YA that disabilities do not make someone lack the need to be loved and accepted by one's peers. The author develops characters who explore the difficulties of being different- Josie with CP and Jordan with intelligence- giving YA something to think about. The age recommendation for this book is right on. It is also a book that could be used in high schools, however, to encourage low readers.
    • 4/5
      Josie is a young girl with cerebral palsy who starts the book with a great relationship with her mom and grandmother, but no friends. As the year goes on, she makes a new friend, Jordan, and begins to really grow. The illustrations at the bottom of the page add to the book's theme of growth. The whole story is told in poetry form. There are four parts that represent the four seasons and Josie's continued blossoming.
    • 4/5
      In this novel in verse, Zimmer portrays the inner and external life of Josie Wyatt, a 13-year-old girl with cerebral palsy. Josie who lives with her mother and grandmother wants to be treated as “normal,” but mother is constantly getting her extra academic help as well as physical therapy. Gran is a wise gardener who cares of Josie while Mom works and goes to college. When Josie befriends new boy Jordan who moves into rich part of neighborhood. (Jordan lives with single workaholic father.) Josie and Jordan share love of science and gardens. When Gran has a stroke, Josie’s family dynamics change.The poems reveal Josie’s awakening sexuality, the social pressures of middle school, and her changing role in her family.
    • 4/5
      In brilliant poetic verse, Josie, a seventh grader afflicted with cerebral palsy, tells the story of one full year of her life from winter to fall. She describes her awkwardness in school as she shamefully attends classes in the dreaded room 204 - a classroom designated for special ed. She explains how she rarely sees her mother since, as a single parent, she is working two jobs and getting a degree. And she tells us of Gran with whom they live on her family-owned farmland. Gran, who is the main care-giver to Josie, is a garden enthusiast and fosters her love and knowledge of plants onto Josie. When Josie meets a new neighbor-boy, Jordan, who happens to adore science life, it seems that finally Josie has connected with someone who looks beyond her disability and appreciates who she truly is. Splendid garden metaphors are planted throughout the verse which will appeal to lovers of language. On the other hand, the short verse form makes for a quick read which will appeal to reluctant readers.
    • 4/5
      Josie, who lives with her mother and grandmother and has cerebral palsy, befriends a boy who moves into one of the rich houses behind her old farmhouse.
    • 4/5
      Everyone at school thinks Josie is a freak and a retard because of her cerebral palsy. Having to go to special ed and therapy classes during the day doesn't help either. Josie feels all alone at school until a new boy shows up. Jordan isn't repulsed by Josie's disability and the two form a fast friendship. Though Josie's life doesn't immediately become perfect, she learns what it means to have and to be a friend.