She’s the kind of daughter that I want to have in the future.

But once I did, I enjoyed the story and appreciate the characters more.Įsme is a great kid. I had to admit that it took quite some time for me to get used to and follow the names. She believes that finding the skeleton is her dead grandfather’s way of sending her a very important message. One day, Esme discovers dinosaur skeleton on their peach farm but decided to keep it a secret. This book tells the story of Esme, a girl who shares a special gift with her grandmother. This did not affect my overall opinion of the book. Esme must find a way to understand who has her best interests at heart-especially as the memories of her grandfather begin to slip away. But when word gets out that Peach Hollow Farm is hiding something valuable, reporters, researchers, and neighbors arrive in droves. But when she follows her little brother, Bo, up the hill while chasing fireflies, she makes an incredible discovery-dinosaur bones peeking out from underneath the abandoned tractor.Įsme sees the bones as a message from her grandfather a connection beyond the grave. The biggest miracle of all is the one Crowley handles with the greatest skill: the change that occurs in Merilee as she ventures at last beyond her 'very ordered existence.' Ages 10-up.Twelve-year-old Esme’s life changes when she discovers dinosaur bones on her family’s peach farm in Texas.įans of Wendy Maas and Lynda Mullaly Hunt will love this perfectly pitched story about friendship, family, and loss from Suzanne Crowley, the acclaimed author of The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous.Īfter her grandfather died from a heart attack while driving his tractor, Esme has avoided returning to the spot where he lost his life. The town of Jumbo home to famous 'ghost lights' that appear in the middle of the night and the legendary 'conquistador tree,' under which a treasure is reputedly buried adds an aura of mystery that coincides with a theme about miracles. On the other hand, both the dialogue and Merilee's unique thought process come off as authentic, compensating for some of the novel's weaknesses. The novel's slow-moving plot and shifting focus present other potential obstacles. Merilee's growing affection for Biswick is beautifully drawn, but subplots regarding other citizens of Jumbo, Texas, their eccentric behaviors and the emotional baggage they carry, grow burdensome. Merilee Monroe, a 13-year-old who is obsessed with dragons and filled with 'astonishing' words she cannot express out loud, finds a soul mate in Biswick, an eight-year-old damaged by fetal alcohol syndrome, the son of a visiting poet. Crowley, the mother of a teenager on the autism spectrum, shows an astute understanding of her characters' psychologies but tries to encompass too much in this first novel, narrated by a girl with Asperger's syndrome.

Finding Esme by Suzanne Crowley