Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	Hannah's Garden
	Author:	Snyder, Midori
	Date Published:	2002
	Genre:	Fantasy
	Grade Level:	6 - 8
	Booktalker:	Sam Marsh

Booktalk:
Poppie was in the hospital! It was bad, and we had to get back to the farm and Poppie as soon as possible. Just what I (Cassie) needed. My recital was that weekend, and I was to go to the prom with Joe, my steady, and had a biology paper due and a Spanish exam. Besides, Poppie didn't know me anymore. Just Anne, my mother. Surely she could handle it this time...alone! Aw, who was I kidding? Poppie, my grandfather, was part of our family, and I wasn't about to leave him alone to mom. Heck, I was more the mom than she was. We were both in school, me in high school, Anne back in college. Things had been going pretty well lately. We hadn't been out to the farm...the place I loved as a kid...in two years, and last time, Poppie didn't even acknowledge me. So, I carried myself off to my violin teacher's house and then to Joe's to let them in on the bad news. Joe with his mandolin and I with my violin went to the session at the Dubliner, a local bar that let folk musicians come and play on Wednesday nights. It would be at least two in the morning before we'd get home, so there was no way I'd be able to let mom know I'd changed my mind until tomorrow. I yelled out from the shower that I was coming with her...the wrapped myself in a towel and walked into the kitchen. Only to find the Viking sitting at the table with Anne, his face red with embarrassment. His real name was Gunnar, gorgeous, blond and...well, like a Viking. Then I blushed and bolted to put on clothes. Gunnar is mom's latest. Mom's drop-dead gorgeous herself. We're often taken for sisters by those that don't know us. Most of her boyfriends were two-time losers who were out to take advantage of her. Turns out Gunnar was going with us. That was a recipe for disaster. Boyfriends didn't fare well at the farm with Poppie. Gunnar was different according to Anne. Right! They all are. Oh, well. So we headed off, Gunnar driving his new black Saab. Poppie looked like a ghost, as if he might fragment into dust at any moment. We put some violets by his bed and talked at him a bit. Then were told it was time for us to leave. On the way out, a man in a dark brown jacket collided with me. He was Melvin Steiger, a neighbor who had been looking after Poppie while Father Tom, who usually looked in on grandpa, was busy with his own ailing mother. Melvin was, well, slimy. He made me queasy. Mom too, it was obvious, but not Gunnar. He acted as if there was nothing wrong. "It's rough out at that farm. I don't reckon you should stay there," said Melvin. We ignored him. He was right. The house was a mess. Bats, rats, droppings from all sorts of animals. The walls were in danger of falling into pieces. The refrigerator...eeuuuggghhh. And the toilet!! How had things gotten so bad? What had Melvin done? And then, I went outside in the back to my Grandmother's once beautiful garden. Hannah's Garden.