Product Description

Sooner or later everybody has to leave home. It happened to eight-year-old Victoria North when she went to boarding school. She felt lost and alone and she thought Christmas vacation would never come. Then one day she met Martha Sherman, who taught her the secret language.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2042352 in Books
• Published on: 1972-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: School & Library Binding

From Amazon.com
Eight-year-old Victoria North is dreading boarding school, and it turns out to be worse than she expected. If her paralyzing homesickness weren't enough, a stern, whistle-blowing housemother and unforgiving schoolgirls unlock a faucet of tears that just keeps coming. Partly because Victoria hates the Coburn Home School so much, her quirky and opinionated classmate Martha Sherman takes a liking to the shy new girl. And that's when things start looking up. In Martha's world, the word for wonderful is "leebossa" and sickeningly sweet is "ick-en-spick." Midnight feasts are plotted behind closed doors, a fabulous secret hut springs from old scraps, and a hidden world of tiny dolls emerges in a dresser drawer. Victoria's homesickness and Martha's general obstreperousness gradually evaporate as their friendship cements. Acclaimed children's book editor Ursula Nordstrom adeptly captures the anxious, earnest, mysterious world of the young girl, the wondrous "secret language" of childhood friendships, and the quirky 8-year-old logic that makes lavender a girl color and orange a boy color. Young readers will delight in finding a book that's written just for them, and adults will appreciate a strangely vivid trip back in time. (Ages 8 to 11)

About the Author
Ursula Nordstrom, director of Harper’s Department of Books for Boys and Girls from 1940 to 1973, was arguably the single most creative force for innovation in children’s book publishing in the United States during the twentieth century. Considered an editor of maverick temperament and taste, her unorthodox vision helped create such classics as Goodnight Moon, Charlotte’s Web, Where the Wild Things Are, Harold and the Purple Crayon, and The Giving Tree.

Mary Chalmers the illustrator of many books for young readers, including the I Can Read Book Marigold, Grandma on the Town by Stephanie Calmenson, and Easter Parade, which she also wrote. She lives with her three cats in Greenbelt, MD.