The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech

Last week I wrote a post about the books I was dying to read -- including this new book from one of my favorite authors.

I was on the waiting list at the library and to my surprise, it was my turn to pick it up yesterday.

Sharon Creech's books always seem to arrive when I need them most.

The Great Unexpected is a brilliant and beautiful story about the connections we share without even knowing.  The connections that, sometimes, lead to a great, unexpected thing.

It's hopeful, open, curious, and funny.

It's full of light.

And yet, there are sad things in the book.  Things that are true to life, unexpected, and tragic.  There are things in it that I've struggled with, and things that left me wondering, how will they go on?

I feel as if The Great Unexpected is telling me,

Bad things happen.  There will always be bad things and I'm sorry, but they do happen.  But oh, the good things that can happen!  There are beautiful things yet to be.

This book buoys me up in a ring of hope.  This story, full of sadness and wonder and light, comforts me and tells me that unexpected things can be great.

If you enjoy stories with real heroines, surprises, emotional depth, and joyous endings, I hope you'll give this one a chance.

I'm waiting on my own Great Unexpected.  Are you?