From the author of the Newbery Medal winner "Shiloh" comes a story of two girls from different regions of Kentucky who are brought together in an exchange program. They soon learn they are more alike than different and find strength in each other. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Newbery Medalist Naylor's (Shiloh) reflective, resonant novel shapes credible portraits of two Kentucky girls participating in a seventh-grade exchange program. Since her parents' house is too cramped, outspoken Ivy June lives nearby with her bighearted grandparents in aremote mountain hollow, with no indoor bathroom or phone. More reserved Catherine attends private school in Lexington, where she shares a rambling home with her family. In thoughtful, articulate journal entries interspersed with third-person chapters, the girls, who spend two weeks together with each family, share their initial expectations and subsequent impressions ("if Mammaw ever saw the stuff they put on our plates, she'd give it to a dog," Ivy June writes about the cafeteria food). The bond between the girls strengthens when they simultaneously experience traumatic events (Ivy June's coal miner grandfather becomes trapped underground; Catherine's mother undergoes emergency heart surgery). Leaving the hollow, Catherine responds to a comment that she'll have a lot to tell when she arrives home: "To tell it's one thing.... To be here-that's something else." Naylor's deft storytelling effortlessly transports readers to her Kentucky settings-and into two unexpectedly similar lives. Ages 9-12. (June) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr 5-8-Naylor takes up the issues of crossing class lines with a solid portrayal of Ivy June from rural coal country in Kentucky staying with an upper-middle-class family for two weeks over spring break and the return visit of the daughter of that household, Catherine. The living situations of the seventh graders are at two extremes and yet both girls have the humanity and distinctness that allow them to escape the confines of representing their classes. Make no mistake, this is Ivy June's story, and her hardships and family challenges are front and center in a way that Catherine's own family woes are not. The exchange program set up by the schools is a perfect showcase for looking at the role of wealth and poverty in our assumptions about one another. Ivy June's discomfort at having the wrong shoes is comparable to Catherine's squirming at being unable to wash her hair daily. Neither manages to overcome her own class assumptions. Despite the challenges, this is a warm and tender story of learning to care about the needs of the "other" while gaining appreciation for your own values and strengths.-Carol A. Edwards, Denver Public Library, CO Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Ivy June Mosley and Catherine Combs are participating in the first-ever exchange program between their schools. Both are seventh-graders in Kentucky, but their worlds couldn't be more different: Ivy June lives with her grandparents in their mountain home without indoor plumbing or a telephone, while Catherine lives in a big house in Lexington and has her own cell phone. While spending two weeks in each other's homes, the girls record their observations in journals, and the well-chosen details and scenarios lend authenticity to the girls voices. Catherine is horrified to learn that she can only wash her hair once a week, for example. Jealous friends and a tactless grandmother add challenges, but two large events cement the girls' relationship. Ivy June and Catherine are mature beyond their years, and a mine accident is too heavily foreshadowed, but both the settings and characters are described with affectionate nuance. Readers will connect to these engaging girls and celebrate as they learn they are more alike than different. --Rutan, Lynn Copyright 2009 Booklist From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor was born in Anderson, Indiana, and she spent her teenage years in Joliet, Illinois with some occasional trips to Iowa.

Two of her series are set in Indiana: the witch books and the Bessledorf mystery series. Some of the titles in those series include "Witch's Sister," "The Witch Herself," "The Witch Returns," "The Mad Gasser of Bessledorf Street," "The Bodies in the Bessledorf Hotel," and "Bernie and the Bessledorf Ghost." Naylor's book "Shiloh" won the Newberry Award and the 1995 Young Hoosier Book Award.

She currently resides in Bethesda, Maryland.

(Bowker Author Biography) Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.