The Bell in the Bridge

This warm golden tinged story from the duo behind Bag in the Wind (2010) moves slowly through a summer vacation as Charlie staying with his grandparents for two weeks passes the time by exploring outside—“Anything was better than sitting in the house waiting for something interesting to happen.” He catches tadpoles prods baby turtles and discovers a big metal bridge over a stream that offers new amusements. He pushes stones over the side “ker ploosh ker ploosh ker ploosh” and discovers that if he hits the bridge with a stone it resounds satisfyingly (“He could feel it ringing right up through his shoes”) and echoes in the distance. Sometimes there’s a second sound an answering sound which suggests that there’s someone out there banging back. How? Kooser doesn’t supply any miracles; instead he holds out the possibility of a mysterious friendship in a place Charlie hadn’t thought to find it. Root’s watercolor and gouache landscapes reveal beauty in the woods and water that surround Charlie’s grandparents’ house and he and Kooser succeed in making them grow as dear to readers as they do to Charlie. Ages 6–9. (May)" Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved."

Is the sound Charlie hears from the bridge an echo, or is someone else out there? A lyrical, resonant story by poet Ted Kooser, splendidly illustrated by Barry Root.

When Charlie visits his hardworking grandparents in the summer, he often is left to himself, and he is lonely. So he goes out to play by the stream, with a tin can for tadpoles, a special weed-whacking stick, and stones to drop from the iron bridge. One day he notices that when he strikes the bridge with a big stone, it rings with a bong like a church bell and echoes into the valley. And sometimes a faint, very distant, different-sounding bong comes back. Is it an echo of an echo? Or could someone else, like him, be ringing another bridge altogether? The Bell in the Bridge reverberates with the mysteries and possibilities of childhood discovery, enhanced by illustrations that echo the warmth and magic of a solo summertime adventure.