Ferris: (A Heartfelt and Humorous Middle-Grade Coming-of-Age Novel About Family, Ghosts, and Growing Up - For Kids Ages 8-12 in Grades 3-7)

"Every good story is a love story." Charisse tells this to Ferris, and we grow to understand those words as the story unfolds like an old-fashioned road map. There is love in this family of characters, and what binds better than shared love? My family read this book aloud each evening for a week. We were entranced! Our nine-year-old especially so! She loves to expand her vocabulary, trying out new words, letting them roll over her tongue, and checking the fit like a new pair of gloves. The vocabulary is intentionally superb in this tale, no doubt as both a means of sharing the love of words with her readers and to introduce the influence of a beloved teacher in the story. I can think of no better way for children (or even adults for that matter) to expand their vocabulary than by seeing them in use in a good book. This wonderful book does exactly that. Moreover, the meanings of the words are given in such a manner as to be appropriate to the telling of the story rather than a pause whereby the author steps in to explain the use of the word. I encourage other parents to enjoy this book as we have! This is a remarkable tale that has a take-your-breath-away ending. Step into the story and be swept away by the river of life!

Light, love, words, stories. I bought the book for my kids, supposedly, but I devoured it. As I’m putting it down now, my soul is still reverberating with light and love and words and stories. DiCamillo speaks truth that only good stories can speak and reading her is more of a meditation than an act. I will now leave it on the breakfast table to see who will pick it up first: the 15 year old? Or maybe the 7 year old will give it a try? Perhaps the 11 or the 13 year old. Or, I will read it aloud to all of them so we can all connect through the same words. I can’t wait to share this story with them.

Heart warming characters and plot. Lovely family You'll laugh you'll cry. (Two hankies.) A keeper and a classic.

Loved this book! Di Camillo wrote a beautiful book yet again!

Ferris is a “small” story, in that the actions of the characters are not the sort that change the world. These are the sort of middle grade novels I gravitate to, and I believe it is just the kind adults who read Middle Grade love the most. In typical DiCamillo fashion, this wonderful writer draws a set of quirky characters we love. She makes us chuckle as we marvel at the turn of dialogue phrases. It’s just enough to be continuously surprised without ever falling out of our seats. I wonder how this story would land with the intended age audience. The crescendo is primarily internal, and the action is a quiet one for the most part. The author also used the opportunity to increase ages eight-to-ten vocabulary with a clever device that suggests it is the main character’s teacher’s (also a secondary character in the story) vocabulary instruction at play, and I am not sure of the kid-appeal of this device, though it has charm. I consider this book a gift to me. I’m not sure it would be for the young middle grade reader.