Rocky Road
Reading Level ages 8-12
ISBN-10: 0375863443
ISBN-13: 978-0375863448
Hardcover: 304pp. | $16.99
Alfred A. Knopf (June, 2010)
“Ice cream warms the heart, no matter what the weather.”
That's the Dobson family motto. When things get tough, they break out the ice cream. The road has been especially rocky lately for Tess and her deaf little brother, Jordan. Then Ma abruptly moves the family from Texas to snowy Schenectady, NY, where she uses the last of their savings to open an ice cream shop in the dead of winter. How will they ever survive?
This moving story of family and community proves that, with a little help from family & friends, life can be sweet —and a little nutty—just like Rocky Road.
Kimchi & Calamari
Reading level: Ages 8-12
ISBN-10: 0060837713
ISBN-13: 978-0060837716
Hardcover: 240 pp. | $15.99
HarperCollins (April, 2007)
Paperback: 240pp. | $5.99
HarperCollins (March, 2010)
Available at bookstores everywhere
Kimchi and calamari is a quirky food fusion — and exactly how fourteen-year-old Joseph Calderaro feels about himself. Why wouldn’t an adopted Korean drummer feel like a combo platter given
- his face in the mirror and
- his proud Italian family?
Now Joseph has to write an ancestry essay for school. But all he knows is that his birth family put his diapered butt on a plane to the USA.
What Joseph does leads to a catastrophe messier than a table of shattered dishes — and self-discovery that he never could have imagined.
The Buzz on Kimchi & Calamari
On reading lists for Illlinois’s Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award, Florida’s Sunshine State Young Readers Award, New York State’s Charlotte Award, and Louisiana’s 2010 Young Readers Choice Award.
Kimchi & Calamari is available in hardcover and a special EXTRAS paperback edition with an interview with Rose and information on adoption in the back!
The Story Behind KIMCHI &CALAMARI
The inspiration for Kimchi & Calamari came wrapped in a blanket and drinking a bottle of soymilk — all the way from Korea. I’m talking about my son Connor, who we nicknamed Buddha Baby because of his plump cheeks and glowing smile. Adopting Connor was a true joy, but as with all adopted children, his arriving also meant a loss for him. I remember holding Connor in my arms years back and worrying about how he would cope later, especially during puberty, a natural time for wondering. I knew I couldn’t spare him from some hurt, but I wanted him to know that I “got it”— that I understood that who he was as a person didn’t begin the moment he arrived in America.
So KIMCHI & CALAMARI came from a place where I wanted to connect with kids thinking about who they were, their identities. I love that old proverb that says children need to know their roots to develop their wings. And it isn’t just adopted kids needing this knowledge; ALL kids do! Nobody cruises through middle school without some struggling to figure out who they are and where they fit in.
By the way, that's Connor on the left (the original Buddha
Baby) and Theresa, my baby, on the right.
(Uh-oh, she will NOT be happy I called her a baby....)
Calamari is an Italian dish that's made with squid (yup, as in tentacles), bread crumbs, cheese, eggs, and garlic. Calamari is often one of the seven fish prepared for Christmas Eve. This dish is a labor of love -- if someone makes calamari for you, lucky YOU.