SNOWED IN WITH GRANDMOTHER SILK

When his parents go on a cruise in late October, eight-year-old Ruddy has to stay in Grandmother Silk’s big old house in Silver Lake. She wears high heels all the time and doesn’t like him to get dirty. She doesn’t play computer games or watch TV. Ruddy is not pleased, especially about missing Halloween. But he does get a big gorilla costume to wear to the local zoo party. When a huge snowstorm cancels Halloween and knocks out phones, electricity, and heat, Grandmother Silk and Ruddy find water in the lake, meals from a can, and warmth from the fireplace. They warily circle each other as they learn chess, and Ruddy makes a snow angel while wearing his gorilla suit. The story is gentle and funny, a posthumous gift from the Newbery Honor author of Yolanda’s Genius (1995). (Fiction. 7-10)