I’ve got a confession to make. I want to pack up my house, uproot my family and move down south, not because it is somewhere I’ve always wanted to live, but because I want to move next door to Sarah Addison Allen. I want to be her neighbor. I want to be her best friend. I want to read the first draft of her next novel. I’ve got a girl crush on Ms. Allen. BAD. Because I LOVE her writing. So descriptive and beautiful and wonderful. I mean, how can you not want to be buddy buddy with a woman who opens her book with this paragraph:

Every smiley moon, without fail, Claire dreamed of her childhood. She always tried to stay awake those nights when the stars winked and the moon was just a cresting sliver smiling provocatively down at the world, the way pretty women on vintage billboards used to smile as they sold cigarettes and limeade. On those nights int he summer, Claire would garden by the light of the solar-powered footpath lamps, weeding and trimming the night bloomers – the moon vine and the angel’s trumpet, the night jasmine and the flowering tobacco. These weren’t a part of the Waverley legacy of edible flowers, but sleepless as she often was, Claire had added flowers to the garden to give her something to do at night shen she was so wound up that frustration singed the edge of her nightgown and she set tiny fires with her fingertips.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen is the story of two estranged sisters, Claire and Sydney Waverley. The Waverley name comes with lots of baggage in this small southern town. Known as one of the oldest families in Bascom, North Carolina the Waverleys have lived in the same old house for generations. Most well known is their garden in the backyard, which is rumored to have magical properties and is therefore hidden behind lock and key to keep out the locals. Claire spent the first six years of her life on the run with her mother Lorelei Waverley, who stole and slept her way from state-to-state. Only when her mother found out she was pregnant with Sydney did she bring both girls back to her hometown of Bascom to live in the old Victorian with their grandmother. Shortly thereafter Lorelei disappears again, only to be killed in an automobile accident. Claire finds comfort in her new home and inherits the old house when her grandmother passes away. She establishes herself as a local caterer, using the herbs in her backyard garden to create dishes that can evoke emotions in the people who consume them. Sydney though has the itch to leave behind the Waverley name and left Bascom ten years prior, never thinking that one day she would return. But after years on the run, just like her own mother, Sydney ends up on Claire’s doorstep with her five year old daughter Bay at her side, trying to get away from her abusive boyfriend.   

With the help of some eccentric locals and a very forceful apple tree, Claire and Sydney start anew and in the process learn about their mother, their pasts and what their futures may hold.

I first was introduced to Sarah Addison Allen when I read her lovely book The Sugar Queen (you can read my review here). I knew at once that I had stumbled on something really special. Just like The Sugar Queen, Garden Spells is filled with eccentric characters that you can’t help but love. There is Evanelle, the Waverley’s elderly, eccentric cousin, who has the gift of anticipation (which means that she has a need to give people objects that they might one day use). Then there is the old apple tree in the Waverley’s back yard, which is rumored to show whoever takes a bite of one of its apples what the biggest event in their lives may be.  Even Bay herself has her own gift, one that tells her where things belong (from the cutlery in the old house to people falling in love).

Allen truly has a gift herself, with her enchanting imagination, beautiful prose and just plain lovely way with words that easily draws readers in to her fantastic stories. I love how she writes about the old Victorian house in this paragraph (after Sydney gets mad at her sister):

“The whole town forced it on me! I tried to be normal and no one would let me.” The pots hanging on the rack above the kitchen island began to sway anxiously, like an old woman wringing her hands. Sydney watched them swing for a moment, then she took a deep breath. She forgot how sensitive the house could be, how floorboards vibrated when people got mad, how windows opened when everyone laughed at once.

She also has a wonderful way of wrapping up her magical stories, not leaving any stone unturned. The only bad thing about her books is that they are too darn short! I want only to spend more time in her magical worlds and am sorely disappointed when turning the last page. If you haven’t yet read any of Allen’s books, run to your nearest library/bookstore and grab a copy. I promise you that you won’t be disappointed.

You can find out more about Sarah Addison Allen at her website. I read Garden Spells as part of Carl’s Once Upon a Time challenge. Sarah Addison Allen has a new book out, The Girl Who Chased the Moon, which I just got from the library last week. I’m so excited to read it and see if the magic continues!

Have you guys ever read Bookscoop, a book blog that focuses on children and adolescent literature?  I had never stumbled upon this blog until today and am sure glad I did. Thanks to Bookscoop, I learned that tomorrow, March 27th is Purple Day, an international day to promote Epilepsy awareness. Purple Day was started by a 9 year old girl in Canada named Cassidy Megan. Cassidy’s mission is to let children living with Epilepsy know that they are not alone. How neat is that?

Since Epilepsy is a cause close to my own heart (Cari from Bookscoop and I are both parents of little girls living with Epilepsy) I thought it would be nice to participate in Bookscoop’s mini-challenge to honor Purple Day. There are a bunch of ways to participate in this mini-challenge (which runs until March 31st) and you can see all the details here.

My contribution is a book review of Becky the Brave: A Story About Epilepsy by Laurie Lears. Becky the Brave is the story of two sisters, Becky and Sarah. Sarah knows that her big sister Becky is very brave. Even though Sarah is worried about going to a new school, Becky is there to hold her hand and walk her to her classroom. But even though Becky may seem brave, she is worried about one thing – having a seizure at her new school. Even though the school is aware of Becky’s seizure disorder, she has not told her new friends about having Epilepsy. Then one day Becky’s worst fears come true and she has a seizure during class. After waking up from her seizure she sees that some of the kids are staring at her and a few even laugh. Becky is humiliated and refuses to go back to school. Becky’s sister Sarah needs to be the brave one now and goes to Becky’s classroom to explain to the kids what it means to have a seizure disorder and in doing so helps the children in the class understand a little about Epilepsy.

My daughter Leah was diagnosed with Generalized Epilepsy* after having a seizure in pre-school. Since she was so young (and her preschool teacher, who has a sister with Epilepsy, removed her from the classroom right away) none of the other little tots even knew there was a problem. Leah is now almost eight years old and in second grade. She has had seizures since then, but never again at school. Leah’s school nurse and teacher are aware of her having a seizure disorder and also know the proper procedure if Leah has a seizure. I purchased Becky the Brave to read to my daughter to help prepare her for the possibility of having a seizure at her school (and how to deal with the possible negative reactions of other children). We’ve read it a few times and enjoy the story. I appreciate the fact that the author writes about Epilepsy in a simplistic way that children can easily understand. I hope that my daughter will never have to experience a seizure at school, but if that happens I think that Becky the Brave would be a great resource to help her and her classmates understand a little bit about Epilepsy.

* We have been going to the same local Neurologist since Leah’s diagnosis in December 2006. We recently felt the need for a second opinion and spent Monday afternoon in New York City meeting with two top Pediatric Neurologists. It has been decided that Leah needs to be retested, since they think that possibly she may have a different type of Epilespy then originally thought. I will be taking a blogging break in the middle of April while I accompany my daughter into the city while she undergoes an MRI and 48 hour video EEG.