December Stillness, Mary Downing Hahn
December Stillness, Mary Downing Hahn
List: $12.99 | Sale: $9.10
Club: $6.49

December Stillness

Author: Mary Downing Hahn

Narrator: Julie Dretzin

Unabridged: 4 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 03/06/2009

Categories: Fiction


Synopsis

All 15-year-old Kelly McAllister wants to do after high school graduation is attend art school. Academic work isn't important to her. When she studies at the library with her friends, she sometimes talks so much the librarian kicks her out. After her teacher pressures her to start working on her current events paper, Kelly decides she has to take the assignment seriously. The only trouble is she can't think of a topic-until she discovers Mr. Weems, a homeless Vietnam vet who spends his days in the library. But writing about his plight isn't so easy. First she must get to know him. Mary Downing Hahn creates a stirring portrait of a teenager discovering that complex problems require more than simple solutions. Narrator Julie Dretzin fully captures all the joy and despair swirling through this thought-provoking young adult novel.

About Mary Downing Hahn

Mary Downing Hahn, a former children's librarian, is the award-winning author of many popular ghost stories, including Deep and Dark and Dangerous and The Old Willis Place. An avid reader, traveler, and all-around arts lover, Ms. Hahn lives in Columbia, Maryland, with her two cats, Oscar and Rufus.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Rlis82

This book irritated me. Hahn essentially rehashed the premise from "Daphne's Book" which told the story of a sensitive and insecure girl who tries to befriend a female classmate living in poverty while completing a school assignment. In "December Stillness" we get all that and so much more that rend......more

Goodreads review by Pam

This is another book that isn't a 3, but not quite a 4. Through much of the book, I had to fight the sigh of resignation that comes from reading the typical teen book where the protagonist is mad at the world, spends much of the book feeling sorry for herself, and rationalizing why it's OK to shrug......more

This story was sad, but tastefully written. As someone who didnt know much about the Vietnam War, I found it every enlightening. My only complaint is that Kelly seemed very whiny and self-serving. Even when trying to help Mr. Weems, she never considered what was in his best interest.......more

Goodreads review by Shayla

Even though Mary Downing Hahn’s ghost stories are my favorite middle grade nostalgic reads, her more serious books like Following My Own Footsteps are great too. However, this one really doesn’t translate well 40 years later (though does any story from 1988?) I think the things kids experience now d......more