This Newbery medal winning book, by Sharon Creech was published back in 1994. It is narrated by thirteen-year-old Salamanca (Sal) Tree Hiddle who has recently – and reluctantly – moved from Bybanks, Kentucky to Euclid, Ohio where her father has a new girlfriend, Mrs. Cadaver. (Yes, Mrs. Cadaver. I didn’t stop laughing about the 
name every time I read it.)
Sal aches for the open spaces and natural beauty of Kentucky and has a difficult time accepting the move to a drab subdivision in Ohio. Her mother has abandoned her and she is resentful of Mrs. Cadaver’s presence in her father’s life. Soon after her arrival, her eccentric grandparents arrive to take their beloved granddaughter Sal (the ‘chickabiddy’) on a road trip to Idaho to find her mother.
The language of her grandparents is rich in quirky folk-isms. They’re fascinated by Sal’s recounting of her friend Pheobe Winterbottom, Mrs. Cadaver’s next door neighbour. Creech seamlessly interweaves both stories together: the road trip to Idaho and Sal’s friendship with the highly suspicious Phoebe. In Phoebe’s world, everyone’s a ‘lunatic’ a potentially deranged madman.
It’s one of those magical books that combines tragedy and humour in one cohesive whole. Sal is dealing with loss, abandonment, as as well as adventure, love, and growth. This is a book that made me laugh out loud a number of times and made me cry also. Sharon Creech is clearly a gifted writer and I’m definitely going to look for more of her work
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