Calvin and the Sugar Apples

by Inês F. Oliveira

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Pub Date Aug 29 2023 | Archive Date Aug 29 2023

Independent Publishers Group | The Collective Book Studio

Children's Fiction | Middle Grade

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Description

A relatable early reader that taps into important life lessons about friendship, grief, and talking through feelings.

Ten-year-old Amelia has always had Calvin to talk to, but Amelia has no idea where he is. Calvin is a twenty-one-year-old chinchilla and has always been there for Amelia whenever she needed to talk about her problems—but he is no longer in his cage, and her parents just say he’s in a “better place.” Everything seems to go wrong now that she and her best friend Camilla have had an argument, and Amelia has missed the school talent show. Without Calvin, who does she talk to about her disappointments at school? Without Calvin, who does Amelia talk to about missing Calvin? She vows to become like the sugar apples in her backyard, rich on the inside and always hard to find.

And just when Amelia thinks there’s nobody she can talk to, a new student, Iris, arrives. Amelia learns that it’s always possible to meet new friends that can teach you that expressing oneself can happen in different ways, but it always starts with talking it out.

A relatable early reader that taps into important life lessons about friendship, grief, and talking through feelings.

Ten-year-old Amelia has always had Calvin to talk to, but Amelia has no idea where...

Advance Praise

"Ten-year-old Amelia of Calvin and the Sugar Apples might be the first young hero to share a deeply moving tale about a beloved pet whose absence is the strongest presence throughout—a definition of Portuguese saudade. If this bright, beautiful book is about the ways a loving family can help heal the holes in our hearts, it is also about how action and words and art itself can welcome fresh friendships and heal upset in long-standing ones. Plotted as crisply as a ballet, with all the down-to-earth details of family life, brimming with color and humorous asides, this is a book unafraid of dealing with the weight of grief that exists even within the young."

–Katherine Vaz, author of Saudade, Mariana (in six languages), Our Lady of the Artichokes, Fado & Other Stories, and Above the Salt (Flatiron Books/Macmillan, November 2023)

"Not much is going right for ten-year-old Amelia. Her beloved chinchilla, Calvin, has gone missing. Camilla, her best friend, has decided to perform alone in the school talent show which leaves Amelia feeling left out and talentless. And on top of that, her parents don’t seem to understand and have very little patience with her. Thankfully, there’s a new girl in the class, maybe Amelia can find a friend in her. Calvin and the Super Apples is a heartfelt, touching story about what it means to be a friend, coming to terms with loss and the emotional stages of grief."

–Samantha Solarz, Librarian