Product Description

Bailey, who is usually so nice, Bailey, my neighbor, my friend, my buddy, my pal for my whole life, knowing me better than anybody, that Bailey, that Bailey I am so mad at right now, that Bailey, I hate him today.

Twelve-year-old Rosie and her best friend, Bailey, don't always get along, that's true. But Granny Torrelli seems to know just how to make things right again with her interesting stories and family recipes. It's easier to remember what's important about love, life, and friendship while Granny Torrelli makes soup.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80215 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-01
• Released on: 2005-01-18
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780064409605
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
In this endearing story by Newberry Medal-winner Sharon Creech, a wise old Italian granny skillfully imparts life advice (and cooking lessons) to her winning but sometimes obstinate 12-year-old granddaughter.

Best known for Walk Two Moons and The Wanderer, Creech makes good use of another inventive format: Rosie's story unfolds first, over making and eating zuppa, and then Granny Torrelli tells parallel stories from her own childhood to help Rosie with her current predicament. Granny Torrelli's tales are laced with endearing, fun-to-say Italian: "I didn't like it, not one piccolino bit," as is her attempt to help Rosie mend her rift with her best friend Bailey ("That Bailey boy!"), for whom she's starting to feel more-than-friendship feelings.

The details of both Rosie's and Granny Torrelli's respective stories are often quite funny (from Braille jealousy to secret guide-dog training for the legally blind Bailey). But, as usual, what Creech does best is slyly proffer small, nourishing morsels of wisdom--not unlike the cavatelli, the "little dough canoes," that Rosie, Granny Torrelli, and that Bailey boy labor over in the book's sweet second half. Just be warned that you might find yourself starving by the end of the story. (Ages 9 to 12) --Paul Hughes

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7-Tastes and smells emerge along with wisdom and insight as a grandmother and grandchild reveal experiences past and present in the warmth of the kitchen. Rosie and Bailey are neighbors, born only a week apart. They are like sister and brother, only better "because I chose him and he chose me." She has always been his helper as he was born visually impaired. But now they have had a falling out. As Rosie tells Granny, Bailey is acting spiteful, all because she tried to be just like him. To be just like Bailey-her buddy, her pal-Rosie secretly learned to read Braille and unknowingly took away the special thing only he could do. When the two of them come together with Granny Torrelli in the kitchen and make cavatelli, the rift between them heals. Stories and wisdom continue as sauce and meatballs are made, helping to clarify feelings. As family and friends raise a glass of water to toast the cooks, Rosie realizes that her world is indeed bigger as is Bailey's; that tutto va bene-all is well! Twelve-year-old Rosie's narration seamlessly integrates Granny Torrelli's stories and fleeting conversations in short chapters. Her authentic voice gradually reveals what has happened and the accompanying emotions ranging from anger and angst to happiness and contentment. The integration of the Italian kitchen and Granny's family stories from the old country add flavor just like the ingredients in her recipes. This is a meal that should not be missed.
Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at District of Columbia Public Library
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 4-6. This story of a friendship, told around food and delivered in small, digestible bites, is a tasty treat. As 12-year-old Rosie makes zuppa with her grandmother, she struggles with her feelings about her best friend, Bailey. Moving adroitly from the past to the present, Rosie tells about her lifelong friendship with Bailey, and how, when it became clear that he was blind, she did everything in her power to help him--sometimes suffocating him with her good intentions. As she makes the soup, she talks to Granny, who has her own story, about a dear friend from the old country, Pardo, which echoes Rosie and Bailey's relationship. Another story unfolds as Rosie, Bailey, and Granny make pasta: a new girl, moves into the neighborhood, and suddenly Rosie has a rival for Bailey's affection. Not surprisingly, something similar happened to Granny and Pardo. This gets high marks for its unique voice (make that voices) and for the way the subtleties that are woven into the story. Each character adds flavor, but the story's strength comes mostly from Rosie--bossy, loving, and willing to see both the error of her ways and the possibilities for the future. Chris Raschka contributes a colorful jacket painting and a few inside sketches to brighten things up even more. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Friends, Family, and Food
Rosie and Bailey are best friends. But what happens when the new girl in town seems to be occupying Bailey's mind a little too much for Rosie's liking?

Enter Granny Torrelli, who has a way of putting things in perspective as she makes soup and other foods in preparation for a pasta party. Stories from Granny's girlhood in Italy help Rosie to see that jealousy is normal, and that the best friendships prevail no matter how angry friends get with each other from time to time.

The characters' voices are all wonderfully authentic. Granny Torrelli is Old-World Italian without being a stereotype. Rosie's pre-adolescent emotional ups and downs are recognizable and bittersweet to older readers; younger readers will see themselves in her as well.

The pronunciations of the Italian words are fun, and skillfully incorporated. I wish Sharon Creech had transliterated "chia chia chia" for the readers, though. It's not pronounced "CHEE-a," but "keeAH" -- it's the sound a chatty person makes, with all their talking!

You don't have to be Italian to like this book. You just have to have people in your life who you care about; people who you hope will always be with you.

But if you like tomato sauce, this book might make you a little bit hungry, too.

Read it while eating a plate of spaghetti and meatballs!
Rosie's very best friend since birth is a boy named Bailey who lives on her block. There's not a thing that she and Bailey don't do together or wouldn't do for each other; in fact, though they're only eleven, there's a general feeling in town that Rosie and Bailey just may one day fall in love and marry. But for right now, Rosie and Bailey are having an argument, and that's when Granny steps in!

In part one of the novel, Granny and Rosie are making soup together. It's their private time, and Rosie loves being able to talk to Granny about her problems. In Part II, Bailey joins in the kitchen, and they all make pasta, meatballs, and sauce together. This time, Granny helps the youngsters see how little spats, jealousy, new friends, and past experiences all come together to teach the lesson that life is too short for petty anger.

Granny Torrelli is wise-very clever and wise-and her Italian accent and crass ways are part of her charm. Sometimes Granny gives just the right advice, sometimes she says nothing, and sometimes she completely takes over the novel as she tells a story to Rosie and possibly Bailey about her life back in Italy as a young girl. The stories are riveting and always jam-packed with life advice.

This story is fun, funny, and full of important lessons. Sometimes, it's even sad and touching, like when Granny tells the story of a sick little baby who taught her the true meaning of life.

The more of Sharon Creech's books I read, the more impressed I am with her ability to see the tremendous importance in the little things in life. If you liked _Love That Dog_, then you'll appreciate the beauty of these words.

Granny's Soup is Spell Binding
I read the first half of Granny Torrelli Makes Soup (a complete story in itself) to my fifth grade students the day before Thanksgiving break and they were spellbound. As Sharon Creech slows peels away the layers of Rosie's and Bailey's relationship, revealing Bailey's not-so-secret, she deftly explores the nuances of relationships and feelings towards those we love. It was obvious, by the looks upon their faces (and the absence of whispering - a miracle)that the children strongly identified with the main characters. My class also loved Granny's words of wisdom and parables of friendship and were thrilled when Pardo and Granny's young relationship echoed Rosie and Bailey.

When we got back from vacation, the first words out of their mouths was "when are we going to read the rest of Granny's story?" The were thrilled when they filled their gumball jar and unanimously voted to read the rest of the story (Granny Torrelli makes pasta).

The angst and emotions of the children in the story struck a chord in those in my class. Many confessed in their Writer's Notebook that they had felt both the way Rosie had (left out, betrayed when she did something for someone else and was not appreciated, and jealous). They also could identify with Bailey's feelings of inadequacies, need for his own uniqueness, and being flattered by someone new while overlooking a loyal friend.

Buy it for a preteen or teenager, but read it for yourself first. It makes for a great read aloud, especially since the stream-of-consciousness format makes it difficult for less than experienced readers.