Child’s chapter book, designed for ages 8-11. Published late 80’s or early 90’s. A young boy is brought to spend the summer with his great aunt and uncle. Feeling banished and angry, he refuses to stay in touch with his parents. Little by little, however, he opens up to adventures of life in the country, making friends with his relatives, with their pet hen (who they speak to only in French: “Va te coucher, Pauline”) and with a young girl on a nearby farm. Toward the end there is a wild search for the beloved hen.
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
This is ‘Arthur, For the Very First Time’ by Patricia MacLachlan (1980).
“Arthur Rasby is ten years old and having the worst summer of his life. His parents don’t listen to him, so he writes everything down — everything that’s real — in his journal. But when he goes to stay with his Great-Aunt Elda and Great-Uncle Wrisby on their farm, his world is turned upside down. For the first time Arthur wonders what’s real and what’s not.
His aunt and uncle do things Arthur’s parents would never do — like climbing out windows to sit in trees, singing to their pet pig, and speaking French to a pet chicken. Life on the farm happens much too fast to write down — sometimes wonderful, sometimes terrible. Arthur begins to understand there is more than one way of seeing and doing and loving. And he realizes there’s a whole world just waiting to be discovered.”
That’s it! “Arthur, for the Very First Time” ! Thank you very, very much.