FINDING DAY’S BOTTOM
By Candice Ransom
Carolrhoda Books, 2006
Category: Middle-grade fiction
So much of the joy I take from books comes from outside the story. Hard covers encased in library plastic thrill me.* Trim size is important, as is text size, font, and white space on the page. FINDING DAY’S BOTTOM got top marks from me in all these categories. Holding this fine little book in my hands, flipping through its pages, wondering about its intriguing title (What the heck is day’s bottom? How would you find it?), and admiring its cover photo kept me happy for a good long time. I couldn’t resist bringing it home.
Finding day’s bottom is Jane Ery’s only hope for reuniting with her father, or so she thinks. But she doesn’t know where day’s bottom is, or even what it is. She only knows what Grandpap has told her, and since his way is to talk in stories and riddles, Jane Ery is left to figure it out for herself. Jane Ery’s story is sweet and sad, but she is a good and loveable lass.
In a lucky coincidence, my friend Eric Luper attended a talk by FINDING DAY’S BOTTOM author Candice Ransom at the Got Books? Let’s Read! conference. You can read what Eric had to say about what Candice had to say here.
* I think that because libraries and the books inside them have always been refuge for me, the association between plastic dust jackets and safety is strong in my mind. Or maybe I am just weird.