The Town That Floated Away

Book excerpt: Things are proceeding normally during the annual Spring Break in the town of Wellington (major industries: donuts, grapes and toy boats). Chunks of ice as big as bulldozers flow down the river and Madame Galosh, owner of the Galosh Boot Manufacturing Company, prepares to sell a boatload of new rubber boots. At the same time, the lucky winner of the annual Spring Break Free Trip draw, Virginia Potts, is eager to embark on a long-awaited journey. Clang! Clang! Clang! A bell rings in the town square and an amazing series of events unfolds: too much lemonade is consumed, there's a little too much enthusiasm for the pursuit of profit and the town fails to mark the age-old "Batten Down the Hatches" holiday -- and the town of Wellington floats away. Ginny Potts is left behind, slowly shrinking from loneliness. In the tradition of Roald Dahl, Sandra Birdsell's debut children's novel is outrageously delicious reading, a clear-eyed and often poignant child's-eye perspective on an adult world -- where the adults are often the silly ones who don't always know what to do.