Trowbridge Road

by Marcella Pixley Narrated by Tara Sands

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A beautifully written middle-grade novel that tackles heavy issues like mental illness, grief and neglect head-on. After June Bug's father dies at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, she's left alone with her mother who is reeling with grief and can no longer properly care for her daughter. June Bug forms an unlikely friendship with her neighbor, Ziggy, who is dealing with familial issues of his own. Heartbreaking yet ultimately hopeful, Trowbridge Road is a story about the comfort of found family and the healing power of love.

In a stunning novel set in the 1980s, a girl with heavy secrets awakens her sleepy street to the complexities of love and courage.

It's the summer of '83 on Trowbridge Road, and June Bug Jordan is hungry. Months after her father's death from complications from AIDS, her mother has stopped cooking and refuses to leave the house, instead locking herself away to scour at the germs she believes are everywhere. June Bug threatens this precarious existence by going out into the neighborhood, gradually befriending Ziggy, an imaginative boy who is living with his Nana Jean after experiencing troubles of his own. But as June Bug's connection to the world grows stronger, her mother's grows more distant - even dangerous - pushing June Bug to choose between truth and healing and the only home she has ever known.

Trowbridge Road paints an unwavering portrait of a girl and her family touched by mental illness and grief. Set in the Boston suburbs during the first years of the AIDS epidemic, the novel explores how a seemingly perfect neighborhood can contain restless ghosts and unspoken secrets. Written with deep insight and subtle lyricism by acclaimed author Marcella Pixley, Trowbridge Road demonstrates our power to rescue one another even when our hearts are broken.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

08/10/2020

Drawing comparisons to Bridge to Terabithia, this literary middle grade novel by Pixley (Ready to Fall) follows two lonely children awash in secrets and hurts. When Ziggy Karlo moves in with his grandmother, Nana Jean, June Bug Jordan is watching from a perch in the branches of a copper beech tree. She’s an isolated child whose father died early in the AIDS crisis, before much was known, and whose mother has been lost to mental illness and terror of germs ever since, even making June wash with bleach. Though June is at first envious of the way Nana Jean lavishes affection on Ziggy, a bullied boy with an impressive vocabulary, she soon befriends her fellow outcast and the two escape to “the ninth dimension... a place you can go only if you are magical.” Though both children have been abandoned by parents in different ways, each has a loving adult to turn to at least some of the time, with Nana Jean taking in Ziggy and June’s uncle Toby wanting desperately to help his brother’s family. Heartbreaking and sometimes emotionally difficult, this novel will appeal to young teens looking for something serious to dig into. Ages 10–up. Agent: Victoria Wells Arms, Wells Arms Literary/HSG. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

"Characters are memorably portrayed by [Tara] Sands, with Nana Jean's compassionate warmth being the standout.… Sands emotively describes the beauty of nature, simple meals, and June's life with her agoraphobic mother…."
—AudioFile Magazine

“June Bug narrates this work of historical realism with a magical, poetic quality, turning the ordinary extraordinary. June Bug and Ziggy’s fanciful adventures are likely to resonate with fans of Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia (1977)...An exceptional story for readers who feel deeply.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Trowbridge Road is a luminous, heart-wrenching story that reminds us that love—maybe flawed, maybe messy—is what sustains us. Burbling over with lush details, Marcella Pixley’s novel takes the ordinary stuff of life—steam from a bowl of warm pasta, summer sunlight, the bond between two kids burdened by family secrets—and makes it extraordinary.”
—Esther Ehrlich, author of Nest

“Told from the point of view of the two friends, the narrative is imaginative, flows smoothly, and has you routing for both characters by the end of the story...I truly enjoyed this well-written, plot-driven story and would recommend it for all middle schoolers. The book also reflects the lack of diversity that defined many communities in the 80s. Even though it is a work of historical fiction, there are many lessons in this book that all readers can learn from today.”
—School Library Connection

“Drawing comparisons to Bridge to Terabithia, this literary middle grade novel by Pixley (Ready to Fall) follows two lonely children awash in secrets and hurts...Heartbreaking and sometimes emotionally difficult, this novel will appeal to young teens looking for something serious to dig into.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A beautifully honest account of trauma and childhood friendship that takes place in the early 1980s...The text richly illustrates the inner lives of children, and the subject matter is handled in a way that is honest yet age appropriate. A solid choice for mature tweens who appreciate a story with literary and fantastical elements that also tackles realistic topics.”
—School Library Journal

“Fans of Kate DiCamillo’s Raymie Nightingale (BCCB 4/16) and its followups will find this similarly emotional and ultimately satisfying. A brief author’s note offers more information about AIDS and about mental illness.”
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

School Library Journal

09/01/2020

Gr 5 Up—A beautifully honest account of trauma and childhood friendship that takes place in the early 1980s. June Bug Jordan has watched her world shrink after the death of her father from AIDS, a disease that is little understood and causes her mother to adopt an obsessive regime of cleaning and isolation. Left to her own devices, June watches her neighbor Nana Jean and her grandson Ziggy, who has come to stay on Trowbridge Road after a traumatic experience of his own. June Bug and Ziggy become the creators of a magical world that allows them to escape the demons of their everyday lives, as they transform into everything from dragons to farmers overlooking a snow-covered field. The story is told through June's inner monologue, and the prose feels authentic to the voice of a middle grader, albeit one who has dealt with some very heavy things. The text richly illustrates the inner lives of children, and the subject matter is handled in a way that is honest yet age appropriate. VERDICT A solid choice for mature tweens who appreciate a story with literary and fantastical elements that also tackles realistic topics.—Katie McBride Moench, New Glarus Middle and High Sch. Library, WI

AUGUST 2020 - AudioFile

Narrator Tara Sands winningly introduces the residents of Trowbridge Road, which is in suburban Boston. After 10-year-old Ziggy Carlo’s mom brings him to live with his Nana Jean, he notices a girl sitting in a tree watching him. June Jordan lives nearby with her mother. Characters are memorably portrayed by Sands, with Nana Jean’s compassionate warmth being the standout. Soon the kids help each other cope with their individual problems by entering a magical world. Sands emotively describes the beauty of nature, simple meals, and June’s life with her agoraphobic mother, who became a germophobe after her husband’s death from AIDS. Most appallingly, she demands that June take bleach baths to obliterate germs. The realistic yet inspiring conclusion will help kids with parents who have mental health problems. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2020-03-15
Two lonely outcast preteens find truth and solace through friendship over the summer of 1983.

June Bug Jordan and Ziggy Karlo share a lot in common. They both have well-meaning mothers who love them but “don’t know how to make it stick”; they both have had a traumatic year; and they’re both in need of a friend. June Bug’s father has died of AIDS, a disease only recently discovered and still tragically misunderstood. Her devastated mother is incapacitated with deep depression and an intense germ phobia—she even makes June Bug bathe with bleach. June Bug struggles daily with guilt over the last thing she said to her father while hiding the truth of her home life from neighbors. Ziggy, a “gangly,” sensitive “beanpole” of a boy with long hair and a pet ferret called Matthew, has come to live with his loving and formidable Nana Jean, down the street from June Bug, for a fresh start after a year of being bullied. The two become fast friends and, inspired by their boundless imaginations, escape to the “ninth dimension,” where they can make anything they want happen just by wishing. June Bug narrates this work of historical realism with a magical, poetic quality, turning the ordinary extraordinary. June Bug and Ziggy’s fanciful adventures are likely to resonate with fans of Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia (1977). Primary characters seem to be white.

An exceptional story for readers who feel deeply. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176359619
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	10/06/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

Read an Excerpt

Something New

It was clear that the summer was about to change as soon as Jenny Karlo’s rusty old Chevy came clattering down Trowbridge Road at a quarter past two, the radio pounding heavy metal into the neighborhood, shattering the lazy Thursday afternoon like a rock through a dusty window.
When the door creaked open and Jenny stepped onto the cracked sidewalk with her black high-heeled boots, her bare legs, and her feathered red hair down past her shoulders, it seemed like the maple trees and the tall Victorian houses leaned in,
not because they were leering at her like so many of the fathers did, but because something about Jenny changed everything that came close to her.
She took a drag on her cigarette.
“Get out of the car, Ziggy,” she said.
The back door opened, but the boy did not emerge.
“You need me to go back there and pull you?”
“No,” muttered the boy. “I can do it.”
He unfolded from the backseat, a beanpole in green striped jogging shorts and a purple Return of the Jedi T-shirt. He had an unruly mop of long red hair down his back and a white ferret perched on his shoulder, snuffling at the wind.
He joined Jenny on the sidewalk. They stood side by side and looked up at the house. The boy reached for his mother’s hand. Hers were already occupied. One was holding the cigarette, and the other was hooked into the back pocket of her cutoff jeans. His hand flopped empty back down to his side.
“You got your stuff?” asked Jenny.
Ziggy nodded and lifted a battered suitcase with one shrugged shoulder.
“Okay, then. Let’s go.”
 
They walked together across the flagstones and then up the wooden steps.
Nana Jean swung open the door before they knocked. She made a strange sound — ​some kind of mixture between happy and sad, a sound that only a grandmother can make — ​and pulled Ziggy toward her. “It’s the right thing,” she said over his shoulder. “Oh, Jenny, Jenny, I know this is hard, but it’s the right thing. You’ll see.”
“Well, okay. It’s the right thing. Let’s hurry up before I change my mind.”
“We’ll stay in touch,” said Nana Jean breathlessly, rubbing the boy’s back. “I already made arrangements, and he can start school here with the other kids at the end of the summer, no problem. He’ll like it in Newton. No more bullies. No more teasing. Everything’s going to be just fine now. I’ll take really good care of him, Jenny. You hear me?”
“Yeah,” said Jenny. “I hear you. And I appreciate that. I really do. It sure has been a tough year.”
“I know,” said Nana Jean. “Let me worry about Ziggy, and you just work on getting yourself well. One day at a time. Right? Isn’t that what they say?”
“That’s what they say,” said Jenny.
She took one more drag on the cigarette, blew smoke over her shoulder, dropped the butt on the porch, and stamped it out with the heel of her boot.
The white ferret climbed down from the boy’s shoulder. Then it scrambled onto the porch, grabbed the butt in one claw, and started gnawing at it.
Nana Jean and Jenny both looked at the ferret because it was easier than looking at each other.
“Well, okay, Ziggy,” said Jenny. “You be good for Nana Jean. And don’t let that creature sleep in your pants. You hear me?” She took the boy by the shoulders and pulled him away from his grandmother. “Animals aren’t meant to sleep in people’s pants,” she said. “It’s disgusting. And it ruins them. Ferrets smell like skunk, you know. And clothes are expensive. Money doesn’t grow on trees, even here in Newton Highlands.”
“But Matthew likes being close to me,” said Ziggy. “He likes my scent.” Ziggy scooped the ferret from the ground, kissed him on the top of his white head, and then grinned at the creature. The ferret licked his teeth, his white tail twitching.
“Well, now,” said Nana Jean, pulling the ferret from Ziggy’s mouth and holding him in front of her like a dirty rag. “First things first. Let’s see what we can do to get you two settled in. I’ve got Jenny’s old room all ready, and I want you and Matthew to sleep any way that feels comfortable. If he wants to sleep in your pants, it’s okay with me as long as you’re out of them when he does it. No sleepless nights in Nana’s house. Nobody’s going to bother you anymore, Ziggy. Things are going to change now that Nana’s taking care of you. You hear me?”
“Thank you, Nana,” said Ziggy.
“Okay,” said Jenny. “I think I’d better go now.”
“Give him a kiss and tell him you love him,” said Nana Jean.
Obediently, Jenny knelt on the porch in front of her gangly boy.
Ziggy kissed his mother’s hair. “I love you, Jenny,” he said.
Jenny closed her eyes and leaned against him.
“You be the Walrus, Goo Goo Boy,” she said.
“I am,” said Ziggy. “I am the Walrus.”
Jenny got up from the ground. “Then give me a high slide,” she said.
Jenny put her hand out, and Ziggy ran his index finger down the length of her palm. Then he snapped and pointed at her. He had tears streaming down his cheeks.
“He’s the Walrus,” said Jenny, smiling now with tears in her eyes. “He’s my Goo Goo Boy. No matter what happens.”
Nana Jean took Ziggy by the hand. She opened the screen door and led him into the house.
Jenny stood alone on the porch. She watched the old house swallow them and looked out over Trowbridge Road at the row of houses with their closed doors. After a while, she sighed and made her way back to the car. She got in, lit another cigarette, rolled down the window, started the engine, cranked up the radio, and clattered down Trowbridge Road and on toward town.

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