Aggie is the owner of the Sleepy Time Motel in the Great Smoky Mountains. She and her husband, Harold, ran the place together up until he died in the tomato patch. She hasn’t had a customer in three months. Her junk drawer is filling up with unpaid bills. As much as she’d rather stay here with “Harold”, she needs to sell the place.
Willow is a quiet, sad 4th grader. Her mother, Dorothy, has left her and her father. They are both having a hard time living without her. And now her father has decided to move away from the home that is still filled with the echoes of Dorothy. He is determined to buy an Inn up in the Mountains and start a new life. Willow wants to stay where memories of Dorothy remain.
Loretta is a cheerful, gregarious 5th grader. She has received a package in the mail. It is filled with all of the remaining earthly possessions of her other, biological, mother who has now passed on. One of the trinkets is a charm bracelet. Each charm marks a location. Loretta is determined to discover the mother she has never known by visiting each place represented on the bracelet, starting with the bear from the Great Smoky Mountains.
Kirby is a wayward, troublesome boy. His mother ignores him; his father wants nothing to do with him; his stepfather doesn’t do anything period; and his little brother Ace is the apple of mom’s eye. Kirby is on his way to an academy for “bad-boys” up in the Great Smoky Mountains when his mother’s car dies on the side of the road.
For the first time, in a very long time, the Sleepy Time Motel is full to the rafters – with four very different kinds of families. Four very different characters will share the same space for less than a week, but their lives will be changed for the better. So much so that they will remember their time together fondly and might even choose to return.
The chapters of this book alternate between the four main characters. It is an unusual harmony that they sing – they actually DO fit together like a puzzle. As you read, you see the beginnings of a strong melody of friendship, concern and love emerge. It’s a lovely little book that probably won’t make waves. It will remain in quiet obscurity, much like the Sleepy Time Motel. It is off the beaten path.
I don’t see myself recommending it to kids. It is appropriate for children 4th to 6th grade. It is neither edgey, nor action-packed. I think adults might be able to appreciate it more. It does remind me of family vacations back in the 70s and 80s when there was little money for extravagant trips and best friends could be made with strangers.
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