Octavia Boone's Big Questions about Life, the Universe and Everything

By David J. Darling

After her parents find clashing answers to life's big questions, it's time for Octavia to make some choices of her own in this poignant, funny, thought-provoking novel. (Ages 9-12) Octavia's best friend, Andrew, wants to know why time runs forward instead of backward, or if it's possible to talk to an alien jellyfish. Octavia has much bigger questions on her mind: Why do bad things happen, like Hurricane Katrina and 9/11? What is the meaning of life? Is there a God? Octavia's artist father, Boone, is convinced that Henry David Thoreau holds the key. Meanwhile, her mother, Ray, has always been seeking the larger meaning of life--until now. Not only have Octavia's parents come up with different answers to the big questions, but their answers are threatening to tear her family apart. Could it be that some questions are too big to have just one answer? Could it be that the universe is far wider than Octavia's--or perhaps anyone's--views of it?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0763644919
• ISBN13: 9780763644918
• Release Date: September 2010
• Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
• Length: 185 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

A great story but lacking a strong finish.

A very entertaining read that caught my eye and I couldn't put it down. Pratt weaves a unique story of love, life in the 50-60's and Vietnam. I found the story to be a real page turner and Pratt's simple but effective prose worked wonders. The life of Levi especially during the war was very well done and the characters were colorful and personable yet also innocent at times. The story itself is a compelling tale yet unrealistic...

Clean, Heartfelt, and Touching Romance

Absolutely a must read for those hopeless romantics that enjoy shedding a tear here and there. As always, James Michael Pratt touched my heart through his story of Paradise Bay. The characters in his stories are so life-like and portray deep emotional feelings, as real-life so often does. He creates his characters and shares their innermost thoughts so that by the time you are just pages into his story you can almost feel...

Paradise Bay

When I saw this book, I did judge it by the cover, and I thought it would be a pretty good book. So checked it out from the local library and read it. I have to say, I couldn't keep it down, I kept reading till I was done. This book keept me reading from cover to cover. This is an amazingly written book, the idea and plot is unthinkable. This book is worth reading, infact it's worth owning. It would be a pleasure to read it...

An old fashioned love story

Never having read Mr. Pratt's previous works I decided to give this one a try since my book club reviews praised it highly. Usually I read mysteries and this did have an air of mystery about it. Also I just finished Up Country where I learned a lot about Viet Nam geographically and culturally and was able to place the locations mentioned in this work though nowhere near as detailed as in the former. The beginning was slow...