Needle and Thread

August 1, 2007
Gr 4-6-The first book in this series hints at a great variety of events yet to come. When Flora and Ruby Northrup's parents die in an automobile accident, their grandmother moves them to her family home, a stately old row house in Camden Falls, MA. Soon the girls are caught up in helping Grandma at her shop, Needle and Thread; making friends; and finding their way in a new community. Although they have moments of sorrow as they think about their parents, they also have fun planning the annual barbeque and discovering letters and family photos in Min's attic. Each sister stands as an individual, and there is enough action to keep the plot moving along. The solid sense of place and the ability of the characters to overcome adversity continue in the second book. Summer is over and sixth-grader Flora and fourth-grader Ruby enter Camden Falls Elementary School. Ruby is all set to join the children's chorus and try out for a play, two ambitions that distract her from serious schoolwork. Flora finds herself missing her old school, but when her teacher tells her that she taught her mother, she begins to feel more comfortable. It is a special year for the town, which is celebrating its 350th birthday, and many of the activities at school focus on this event. Both books have an old-fashioned feel and some stock characters. They'll appeal to readers more interested in characters and values than true action and adventure."Kathryn Kosiorek, formerly at Cuyahoga County Public Library, Brooklyn, OH"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2007
In Needle and Thread, the second book in the Main Street series, Flora and Ruby begin to feel more at home in Camden Falls. Ruby, with the lead in a school play, seems to be getting over her parents death, though the holidays bring challenges for both girls and their grandmother as they try to forge a new life. Freed of some of the setup in the first book, this story delves more easily into the sisters new lives, and although the girls never seem as grief stricken as one might expect, the novel does touch on the different ways children deal with loss. Readers drawn by the books quiet details will be pleased that more titles in the series are on the way.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)