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Cloudy Skies Over Miami
When twelve-year-old Josh receives an airline ticket for one to Miami, he wonders where he will be staying. It is only when his mom explains that he will be vacationing at his loving grandparents’ condo in Miami that Josh begins to have doubts.
His parents convince him that he will have a blast, and so he agrees. After all, “white sand, my own room, the sun; surely I’ll be the envy of all my friends.”
From the very start of the trip, Josh experiences a series of peculiar events which force him to believe he made the wrong decision. After tolerating an extremely annoying plane trip, Josh is greeted by not only his quirky grandparents, but also their equally quirky friends.
Has Josh out-grown his grandparents? Was this the worst birthday gift ever? Will he be able to survive his grandparents’ odd ways, or will he cut his week short and return home to Staten Island where it is freezing?
An unexpected twist to the story and a coming of age realization change Josh’s feelings and force him to explore the true meaning of family.
Love conquers all in this humorous yet sentimental story about growing up and appreciating grandparents.
Traditionally Published
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About Bruce and Susan
Susan and Bruce Wigden have been married for thirty-seven years and live part-time in New York and Florida. Bruce is a retired high school math teacher, curriculum writer, and tutor. He has coached and managed his son’s little league for thirteen years. Chapter Two is the first novel he has co-authored.
Susan has worked with pre-school children for nearly two decades, has been a free-lance writer, and the author of two rhyming children’s books. This is the first novel she has co-authored. Together, the couple travels to schools, charities, and children’s events, doing interactive readings and giving talks about the process of becoming an author.
See this newspaper write up. http://www.silive.com/southshore/index.ssf/2009/09/a_magical_encounter_between_2.html
Susan and Bruce Wigden are available to do an Author Process Talk for grades four through eight. This presentation will include a discussion regarding the steps to becoming published. Children are given the opportunity to ask questions and are encouraged to submit their own stories and illustrations to various magazine publishers and on the internet. Information as to how to go about this is presented, as well as a contest that the Wigdens hold for Chapter Two: The Magic in Baseball.
Winners are published on the Wigden's website at http://www.swigden.com/.
Susan is available to do an interactive reading of "Suppose at the Supermarket.” Children grades Pre-K through third will have the opportunity to become involved in the story through the use of props.
Contact the authors at swigden@yahoo.com to see when they will be in the New York and Florida area.
Reviews
- February 19, 2011 in general youth fiction by Wayne
- HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW
- Book: Chapter Two: The Magic in Baseball
- Authors: Susan and Bruce Wigden
- Cover Illustrator: Bruce Wigden
- Publisher: Tex Ware, 2009
- ISBN-13: 978-1-935500-04-9
- Related website: www.swigden.com (authors)
- Language level: 2 (some euphemisms and a common childhood term for bird droppings)
- Reading level: Ages 9-13
- Rating: 5 stars (EXCELLENT)
- Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker
- For more information e-mail homeschoolbookreview@gmail.com
Wigden, Susan and Bruce. Chapter Two: The Magic in Baseball (published in 2009 by Tex Ware, Everett, WA). Have you ever thought about wanting to do something but were afraid that others might make fun of you because you weren’t very good at it? Jake Daniels is a ten year old boy who lives in Staten Island, NY, with his parents and narrates the story. He likes baseball, but when his father, who has all kinds of baseball trophies from when he was a kid, takes him to Little League tryouts, he sees that other kids his same age are much bigger and stronger than he is, and he gets so scared that he throws up. He’s sure that his schoolmates Josh and Alex are laughing at the mistakes that he makes.
Back at home, in the apartment building where the Daniels family lives, their eighty-three-year-old neighbor Mr. Flynn is a magician, and after telling him all about the tryout disaster Jake wants to learn some magic tricks. So Mr. Flynn lets him borrow an old magic book, and Jake begins studying. Then Mr. Flynn has a stroke and has to go to a rehab center. They decide to do a magic act together for the center’s talent show where Mr. Flynn will be the announcer and Jake will do the tricks. Mr. Flynn tells Jake to make sure that he rereads chapter two in the magic book. What will Jake learn from the book that he can apply to baseball too?
This middle-school grade novel uses a fictional plot to show how kids can develop self-confidence through hard work and determination. There are many things to like about it. Instead of having a bunch of children off to themselves, it shows a young person in whose life adults play an important role. There is the inter-generational relationship of Jake with Mr. Flynn, showing how both young and old can have mutual interests, and through that Jake, who already loves his parents, learns to respect and trust them even more. Also, the reader will discover that life can sometimes take a surprising turn and that a positive attitude and a sense of humor can prepare us for the unexpected. I believe that most pre-teens will find Chapter Two both interesting and relevant.
- February 20, 2011 in general youth fiction by Wayne
- HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW
- Book: Cloudy Skies Over Miami
- Author: Susan Wigden
- Cover Illustrator: Bruce Wigden
- Publisher: Tex Ware, 2010
- ISBN-13: 978-1-935500-14-8
- Related website: www.swigden.com (author)
- Language level: 1 (nothing objectionable)
- Reading level: Ages 9-13
- Rating: 5 stars (EXCELLENT)
- Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker
- For more information e-mail homeschoolbookreview@gmail.com
Wigden, Susan. Cloudy Skies Over Miami (published in 2010 by Tex Ware, Everett, WA). When you have been around people who are much older than you are, have they ever said or done things which you find hard to understand? For his twelfth birthday, Josh, who lives in Staten Island, NY, with his parents, receives a ticket to Miami, FL, to spend a whole week of winter vacation with his grandparents who have moved there. It will be his first time to fly on a plane all by himself. After getting up early to get to the airport and enduring the indignities of airport security, he gets on the plane and finds that the people sitting next to him are a young woman with her little boy who constantly sings the A-B-C song as loud as he can, though not in the proper order, and is sticky from eating a lollipop.
As the plane prepares to land, the pilot announces, “Cloudy skies over Miami,” which becomes a metaphor for Josh’s experiences there. Not only do his grandparents say and do things which he doesn’t understand, but they want him to do things which aren’t “cool” and even seem embarrassing to him. In addition, who do you think are niece and little grandnephew to Grandpa and Grandma’s best friends, Al and Anna? Grandpa overhears Josh phoning his mother about how awful the experience has been, so he leaves to go fishing with Al on Al’s boat. Later that day, while jogging on the beach, Josh learns that two older men have had a serious boating accident and are in the hospital. Are they Grandpa and Al? Will the skies over Miami ever turn sunny and bright for Josh?
Cloudy Skies Over Miami might be thought of as a coming of age story, and it is one to which most modern middle school age readers can probably relate. Anyone who has ever experienced the “generation gap” will appreciate the emphasis on the need for respect of age by younger people and also for respect of youth by older people. Wigden says in her message from the author, “If you have elders in your family, whether they are grandparents, uncles, aunts, or godparents, they may not always act or talk about the same things as you and your friends. Just remember, you are an important part of their lives, and they will be loving you for a long time. Trust them, talk with them, and share your honest feelings. These are the people who matter most in your life and with whom your memories are created.” I certainly enjoyed such aspects in the book as loving family, connecting the generations through mutual respect, and growing up with an appreciation for grandparents.
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Last updated: 12/21/11 08:48 PM
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