A blogger I follow included this quotation about August in a recent post. I haven't heard of Natalie Babbitt before, but I absolutely love the quote.
"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the
live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses
in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy
spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the
first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent,
too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with
too much colour. Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers all
alone. There is no thunder, no relieving rain. These are the strange and
breathless days, the dog days…"Babbitt sums up the sense of August so well, it's as if we are all holding our breath waiting for the Autumn months to begin. Her most famous novel appears to be Tuck Everlasting, which sounds like a lovely read. It's always exciting to discover a new author.
I think that Natalie Babbitt's books might be similar, albeit written by an American with a US setting, to Edith Nesbit's novels. I'm looking forward to finding out.
