Sweet Home Alaska

You might think that a story about pioneering families in Alaska would be the most unusual part of Sweet Home Alaska, by Carole Estby Dagg.

You’d be wrong.

The most unusual part, at least in my opinion, are the names of her main characters – three sisters named after Greek muses. The twins are lucky enough to have easy and cute nicknames, Calli and Polly. Their older sister, and the main character, Terpsichore (Terp-si-KOR-e), isn’t so lucky.

Her nickname is Trip. And it drives her crazy.

When her family moves to Alaska during the Great Depression, she hopes she can convince the kids in the camp, as well as her sisters and baby brother, to call her by her full name.

As you can tell, it’s a mouthful. And none comply.

Her mother longs for civilization and her own mother, in Wisconsin, but the girls and their father love Alaska. They want to stay.

So Terpsichore hatches a plan to convince her mother to vote for Alaska. It involves gigantic pumpkins, creating and selling cookbooks and figuring out how to earn enough money to buy a piano.

And along the way, she faces plenty of obstacles.

Susan Denaker (who also reads all the Penderwick books) reads the audiobook, which I loved. It may not earn a place on my Audible list, reserved for classics I listen to over and over, but I will encourage my children to enjoy this book.

Highly recommended for ages 6 (as a read aloud) and up.