Blooming

It is spring.  Western Pennsylvania had a pretty cold and snowy winter, for Western Pennsylvania.  But today, it does really feel like spring.  Bloomability is not a real word, but it should be.  While the cover is quite ugly, the book is quite good.  What can you expect from Sharon Creech, though?  This lady makes magic every time she touches a pen to paper, or fingers to a keyboard, whatever way, it doesn't matter.  She has become one of my favorite writers.  What I think I particularly love about Ms. Creech is that she makes me love books that I usually wouldn't even think to read.  I remember first reading Love that Dog so many years ago.  I was NOT a poetry chick.  But wow.
The same thing goes for Bloomability.  It isn't set in the US!  I rarely enjoy books not set in the US, because I rarely read them, but still, when I do, I do not enjoy them at all.  Bloomability takes place in an international boarding school in Switzerland.  Here is some information about boarding schools in Switzerland!
Dinnie is a girl from the US who has a dad who is one of those adventurer-type dads.  The dad who is always looking for the a "great opportunity" and doesn't provide much stability to his family.  He is a good guy though, a free spirit and I love the way that Creech doesn't put him down.  He is always moving on for the next big thing and then his family follows after him.  Dinnie's older sister gets married when she is in high school, has a baby.  Her older brother is in and out of jail.  Dinnie's mom is a good lady, too.  But when the chance for a "great opportunity" opens up for Dinnie, she makes her take it, giving Dinnie and opportunity that she wouldn't have otherwise.  Dinnie's mom's sister is married to a man who has become the new headmaster at an American/International boarding school in Switzerland.  Dinnie can go to the school for free.
I am embarrassed that I didn't know that Italy and Switzerland were so close!  There is even a language called Swiss-Italian!
So this is a coming-of-age story, a respectful tale of difference families and lifestyles, a story of international relations on a personal scale, and just wow, a great little book.