Green Glass House Series
Jarvarious Hunsaker
Greenglass House is a 2014 novel by American writer Kate Milford[1][2] with illustrations made by Jaime Zollars.[1] The novel won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Children's Novel,[3][4] and was also nominated for the National Book Award[5] and the Andre Norton Award.[6] The book hit The New York Times Best Seller list.[7]
Milo Pine, the twelve-year-old adopted son of the owners of Greenglass House, an old ramshackle inn, hopes to get some rest during the Christmas holidays. He knows that no one will come to the inn during the holidays but on the very first night, one after another, five guests show up to stay at Greenglass House. Milo believes that the arrival of each of them is not accidental and is somehow connected to a nautical chart he found along with the house itself. He befriends the cook's younger daughter, Meddy Caraway and they start a role-playing game campaign to investigate the chart and learn more about the guests. They find that one of the guests has been entering occupied rooms. At first, nothing is lost, but then three guests are robbed at once.
Milo and Meddy's investigation eventually leads them to believe that De Cary Vinge, the first guest to have shown up, is a customs agent which he confirms in a story he tells. Vinge takes all of the guests and Milo's parents hostage because he wants to find the last treasure of Michael "Doc Holystone" Whitcher, a famous smuggler and owner of Greenglass House before his untimely death. Milo and Meddy manage to escape and lock themselves in the attic. Milo then realizes that "Meddy" is actually the ghost of Addie Whitcher, Holystone's daughter. She confirms this and reveals that 34 years prior, a young Vinge was chasing her father when he stumbled and fell off a cliff. Vinge then found Addie and she leaned forward to hear his speech, but also fell off a balcony and died. The two then realize where Holystone left his final treasure. After a failed attempt to sneak up on Vinge, Milo makes him a deal: he will show Vinge where the treasure is if he releases the hostages. Vinge agrees and Milo shows him a crystal chandelier that hangs in Greenglass House.
The treasure is ultimately a role-playing figurine for the game that Milo and Meddy played, Odd Trails, that Holystone had bought for her. Milo refuses to hand it over to Vinge, who pulls a gun on him. This provokes Meddy to intimidate Vinge to the point where he shoots her and runs away in terror. The hostages are released, and Milo gives Meddy the figurine; she introduces herself to the remaining guests and Milo's parents. On a closer inspection of the chandelier, it turns out that Holystone also hid a sketch for a stained-glass window of himself, which another guest takes with him to inspect at the local university.
All of the guests eventually leave, having completed their business at Greenglass House, leaving Milo with his family and Meddy. She leaves, saying that Milo should be with his family, and disappears. Milo returns home and celebrates Christmas with his parents.
The book was received very positively. Betsy Bird from School Library Journal said that Greenglass House is a "great grand book for those kiddos who like reading books that make them feel smart". Also Bird said that she "loves the vocabulary at work here" citing two words: "raconteur" and "puissance".[2]
You have the power to decide who and what you are and what to do with your power or potential. It's OK to wonder about your birth parents and what your life with them might have been like; it doesn't mean you don't love your adoptive parents.
Milo's a smart, resourceful kid who carefully thinks things through to arrive at a logical conclusion. He gets his homework out of the way first thing over school holidays. He doesn't like change and is prone to panic attacks at first but learns how to handle disruption with calm. His parents are loving and supportive. Friend Meddy is very adept at helping Milo think outside of his comfort zone without Milo noticing.
A story within the novel mentions a man who was beaten "to within an inch of his life." A character threatens others with a gun two or three times; once, a boom is heard and assumed to be a gunshot, and another time a character is shot at but unharmed. A couple of instances of chasing and tackling.
Sharing a bottle of wine is mentioned in a story. Adults are offered whiskey for hot toddies. An adult asks for whiskey, and Milo gets it for her. A minor character smokes a pipe outdoors. Past cigarette smoking is described.
Parents need to know that Greenglass House is a clever and engaging mystery. It presents positive messages about adoption, family, and having the power to decide who you are. A villain threatens others with a gun and shoots at someone, who is unharmed; there are a couple of instances of chasing and tackling. Greenglass House is an inn whose regular guests are mostly smugglers, but in this story, they're beloved by the locals for supplying goods, circumventing an evil corporation's stranglehold on commerce.
Milo's looking forward to a couple of weeks of quiet over winter break: The inn his family runs in a creaky, isolated house on top of a hill almost never has guests once the cold weather sets in. But when an unexpected guest is followed by another, and another, and more still, Milo's sure it can't be coincidence. When Milo finds one of the guests has dropped a mysterious map, he and his friend Meddy determine to decode the map's secrets and find out what's brought the strange visitors to Greenglass House.
GREENGLASS HOUSE is a mystery that will delight and intrigue readers of any age, from the first ring of the guest bell to the astonishing twist at the end. The colorful cast of characters, including Greenglass House itself, immediately draw the reader into a richly imagined and vividly detailed story of tremendous depth. At the center of it all is Milo, whose personality quirks, smarts, and kind heart endear him to the reader.
Imaginative stories within the story add just the right touch of humor and chills. Author Kate Milford deftly supports these wonderful aspects with writing that achieves a rare balance: Like the marvelous world she's created, it's wonderfully absurd and utterly believable at the same time.
Do you like the stories Milo reads or the stories the guests tell? Why do you think the author includes them? Do they get in the way of reading about Milo, or do they make Greenglass House more enjoyable?
Kyle Keeley is the class clown, popular with most kids, (if not the teachers), and an ardent fan of all games: board games, word games, and particularly video games. His hero, Luigi Lemoncello, the most notorious and creative game maker in the world, just so happens to be the genius behind the building of the new town library. Lucky Kyle wins a coveted spot to be one of the first 12 kids in the library for an overnight of fun, food, and lots and lots of games. But when morning comes, the doors remain locked.
Since her mother's disappearance, 11-year-old Tilly Pages has found comfort in the stories at Pages & Co., her grandparents' bookshop. But when her favorite characters, Anne of Green Gables and Alice from Wonderland, start showing up at the shop, Tilly's adventures become very real. Not only can she follow Anne and Alice into their books, she discovers she can bookwander into any story she chooses. Tilly's new ability leads her to fun and exciting adventures, but danger may be lurking on the very next page....
It's wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler's inn is always quiet during this season, and 12-year-old Milo, the innkeepers' adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again. Soon Milo's home is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange story that is somehow connected to the rambling old house. As objects go missing and tempers flare, Milo and Meddy, the cook's daughter, must decipher clues and untangle the web of deepening mysteries to discover the truth about Greenglass House - and themselves.
With a dad who disappeared years ago and a mother who's a bit too busy to parent, Emmy is shipped off to Wellsworth, a prestigious boarding school in England, where she's sure she won't fit in. But then she finds a box of mysterious medallions in the attic of her home - medallions that belonged to her father...who may have gone to Wellsworth.
Delilah knows it's weird, but she can't stop reading her favourite fairytale. Other girls her age are dating. But then, other girls are popular. Delilah loves the comfort of the happy ending and knowing there will be no surprises. Until she gets the biggest surprise of her life....
Again, these are questions we each face in developing our own stories: How much is too much? When and where can we trim to allow the story to unfold in its best and clearest light? How can we keep from burying the important truths of the story in decoration?
Action: Do your characters really need to do what they do? Do their actions carry the arc of the story through to its high point and then to the end? Do any two characters serve the same purpose? If so, can you combine the characters or eliminate one?
Kat St. Claire writes in her downtown Menlo Park treehouse where traffic sounds like ocean waves and imagination reigns. Her fiction and poetry for children have received a number of awards and publications. Kat is currently working on a middle grade novel/series. She is a member of SCBWI, loves the MG Lunch Break book discussion group, and is pleased to be included in the Kidlit Craft blog.
On the first night of winter vacation, the guest bells of the inn unexpectedly ring. And they don't stop. They ring, and ring, and continue to ring until Milo realizes that secret guests are entering. And each one has a story.
For the time time ever, Milo has the ability to learn more about the Greenglass House and everything in it. Eventually, Milo and Meddy, the cook's daughter must string together a series of clues to discover the history and truth about the Greenglass House.
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