Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech

Near the beginning of the book Leo joins a play. Leo's family is very busy with their own problems, and hardly talk to him besides to tell him to do one chore or another. He dreams of changing the world, or at least getting his family to notice him. Leo feels lost in the sea of people that are his family. Leo wonders about the mysteries of his life, not least of all, why his father is so sad and what happened to Rosaria, his sister, and why no one mentions her. Leo is trying to make sense of losses, life-changes, and regrets as the play and his life lead to mutual revelations. Leo's friend Ruby, who plays a donkey in the play, also reveals the death of her younger brother. Part of the discovery is of the existence of a long-lost aunt. At the same time, Leo is learning more about his father after finding an old autobiography his father wrote at 13 and has had stashed in his attic along with some tap shoes. He has just tried out for the school play, a fantasy about an old man who accepts two lost children into his life and regains some of his childhood magic, and Leo is cast oddly as 'the old crone'. Leo is 12 years old, imaginative, sympathetic, but often lost in his large family, with his busy parents, older sister, two younger brothers, and large extended family. Just be warned that you might find yourself starving by the end of the story.Replay (2005) is a children's novel by American writer Sharon Creech. But, as usual, what Creech does best is slyly proffer small, nourishing morsels of wisdom-not unlike the cavatelli, the 'little dough canoes,' that Rosie, Granny Torrelli, and that Bailey boy labor over in the book's sweet second half. The details of both Rosie's and Granny Torrelli's respective stories are often quite funny (from Braille jealousy to secret guide-dog training for the legally blind Bailey). Granny Torrelli's tales are laced with endearing, fun-to-say Italian: 'I didn't like it, not one piccolino bit,' as is her attempt to help Rosie mend her rift with her best friend Bailey ('That Bailey boy!'), for whom she's starting to feel more-than-friendship feelings. In this endearing story by Newberry Medal-winner Sharon Creech, a wise old Italian granny skillfully imparts life advice (and cooking lessons) to her winning but sometimes obstinate 12-year-old granddaughter.īest known for Walk Two Moons and The Wanderer, Creech makes good use of another inventive format: Rosie's story unfolds first, over making and eating zuppa, and then Granny Torrelli tells parallel stories from her own childhood to help Rosie with her current predicament.

Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech