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Happy accidents don't get much more serendipitous than in this slender chapter book about a little girl and her desire for a blue china bird. Each Saturday morning, Violet Mackerel rises at 5 a.m. to help her mother and older siblings pack the car for the Saturday market. Mama sells knitted wares, Nicola sells earrings, and Dylan busks on his violin. Violet thinks up brilliant plots that teeter on elaborate daydreaming, all in the hope of raising enough money to buy the small figurine on a fellow seller's table. Violet has a marvelous world view that allows her to feel the joy of giving a present rather than making a sale. When Violet finally holds the blue china bird in her hand (for who can doubt that she eventually will?), it is the result of the best laid plans going wonderfully awry. Debut author Branford and illustrator Allen offer up a charming new chapter book star, who is sure to appeal to fans of Sara Pennypacker's Clementine or Paula Danzinger's Amber Brown.
Horn BookSeven-year-old Violet knows that to obtain the beautiful blue china bird at an outdoor market, she needs a "brilliant plot." Violet is a true original: a complicated heroine for new readers who is neither stereotypically spunky nor silly. She needs her mother's gentle guidance but is able to solve little problems all by herself. Black-and-white halftone illustrations accompany the text.
Kirkus ReviewsA collection of small things and a generous gesture win Violet Mackerel the Blue China Bird she's admired for weeks at the Saturday-morning market. While her mother and sister sell their crafts and her brother plays the violin, Violet has time to visit the other vendors—especially the seller of china birds—and to plot, imagining ways to earn the $10 she needs to buy her favorite. Thinking "outside the box" as her mother advises, she experiences a series of failures. But in the box of her mother's knitting disasters she finds something she can transform into a desirable, sellable object. The gentle, present-tense narration reflects the thinking of an imaginative and quite determined 7-year-old, following the model of elders who envision goals and work toward them. She's not always realistic about her own abilities. Her theory of the importance of small things mirrors the series of small moments that make the story. First published in Australia, where it was a Children's Book of the Year Honour Book and followed by three sequels, this title has been slightly edited and re-illustrated for its U.S. edition. Allen's grayscale drawings enliven almost every page. (Final art not seen.) Violet and her family are original and appealing, a lovely addition to any chapter-book collection of characters. (Fiction. 5-9)
School Library Journal (Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2012)Gr 1-3 Every Saturday seven-year-old Violet Mackerel accompanies her mother, sister, and brother to the local market where her mother tries to sell her knitted goods. When she covets a special blue china bird but does not have 10 dollars to pay for it; she needs to concoct a brilliant plan to come up with the money. Can she try digging in her backyard to unearth ancient dinosaur bones? Will she be able to think of something she can knit and sell? This is a sweet story about a likable little girl who just longs for something small. While Violet is still a unique character, she is much more subdued than Judy Moody or Junie B. Jones, and there is definitely an audience for a quiet but creative heroine. Black-and-white drawings, some full page, add touches of whimsy and humor. A charming easy reader that also serves as a thoughtful, gentle read-aloud. Elizabeth Swistock, Jefferson Madison Regional Library, VA
ALA Booklist
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Horn Book
Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal (Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2012)
Wilson's Children's Catalog
Violet Mackerel is quite a small girl, but she has a theory.
Her theory is that when you are having a very important and brilliant idea, what generally happens is that you find something small and special on the ground. So whenever you spy a sequin, or a stray bead, or a bit of ribbon, or a button, you should always pick it up and try very hard to remember what you were thinking about at the precise moment when you spied it, and then think about that thing a lot more. That is Violet’s theory, which she calls the Theory of Finding Small Things.
“Wake up, Violet,” says Violet’s mama. “It’s nearly five o’clock.”
It is Saturday, which is market day. Violet yawns. It is still dark. Mama’s hair is a bit damp from her shower and it smells like mangoes and blossoms. Violet leans forward for a snuggle and nearly falls asleep again.
“Just stay awake until we’re all in the van,” says Mama. “Then you can sleep as much as you like.”
Violet’s big brother, Dylan, and big sister, Nicola, are already awake, and they are helping to load up the van with fold-up tables and chairs, the big canopy umbrella, and boxes and baskets of Mama’s knitting. They are going to the market like they do every Saturday morning, to sell the woolly things Mama makes.
Violet thinks she would quite like to wear her pajama bottoms under her skirt today. They feel nice and warm from bed. Sometimes if you say things like “Can I wear my pajama bottoms to the market?,” people say things like “No.” But if you just put your skirt on over the top, and have your eyebrows slightly raised like someone who is thinking of something very important and interesting, no one says anything at all.
When Violet, Mama, Nicola, and Dylan arrive at the market, even though it is still not properly light, lots of people are already there, bundled up and rubbing their hands together with coldness, unfolding and unpacking their things to sell. No one notices Violet’s pajama bottoms.
Violet’s favorite person at the market (apart from Mama and Dylan and Nicola and herself) is a man who never smiles. He sells china birds, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, and he is there every week. Violet says hello to him as she always does, and he doesn’t even look up, which he never does. But after waking up at nearly five o’clock in the morning, Violet doesn’t feel much like chatting or smiling either. So she feels that even though he never says hello back, she and the man might share a sort of understanding.
The man’s china birds are all different and all very dirty. Dylan says that they are probably brand-new from a factory. He thinks the man has just put dirt on them so that they will look ancient and he can sell them for ten dollars instead of two. But Violet doubts it. She thinks it is much more likely that he is an archaeologist. She suspects that he specializes in digging up ancient china birds.
Violet would quite like to own one of the man’s birds in particular. It is made of pale blue china, the color of a robin’s egg. It is always right at the back of the table.
And just as she is having that thought, out of the corner of her eye, Violet spies a small red button on the dusty market ground.
Excerpted from Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot by Anna Branford
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Introducing Violet Mackerel, a charismatic new chapter book star with a zest for life and an endearing, relatable voice akin to Ramona Quimby and Junie B. Jones.
Violet is a seven-year-old with a knack for appreciating the smallest things in life: her “Theory of Finding Small Things” states that the moment of finding a tiny treasure usually coincides with the moment of having a genius idea. This creative little girl always strives to think outside the box, so when she spots a small china bird that she desperately wants, she forms an imaginative plan for getting it—and her methods are anything but ordinary!
Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot is the first book in an irresistibly charming series starring Violet and her family that has pitch-perfect perspective and plenty of laugh-out-loud humor.