Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

NEWBERY HONOR BOOK

BOSTON GLOBE-HORN BOOK AWARD HONOR BOOK

Polly Horvath's Everything on a Waffle tells the funny, bittersweet story of a young heroine who manages to hold onto hope despite the odds.

Primrose Squarp simply knows her parents did not perish at sea during a terrible storm, but try convincing the other residents of Coal Harbour on that score. For all practical purposes, at least for the time being, Primrose is an orphan, and there's no great clamoring of prospective adopters.

After realizing the impracticality of continuing to pay Miss Perfidy (a mothball-scented elderly lady) an hourly wage to baby-sit her, the town council is able to locate a relative, Uncle Jack, who reluctantly takes Primrose into his care. Primrose does warm up to living with him and in his home, despite the eerie noises resembling a hockey game that haunt her in the night. But true sanctuary can always be found at a restaurant called The Girl in the Swing, where everything--including lasagna--is served on a waffle, and where the proprietor, Miss Bowzer, offers a willing ear, as well as sage advice. Through a mixture of eccentric humor and probing philosophy, author Polly Horvath makes Primrose's search for peace and understanding a most memorable one.

Everything on a Waffle, The Canning Season, and One Year in Coal Harbor are just a few of Polly Horvath's books for children and young adults. She has won multiple honors, including the National Novel Award, the Newbery Honor, the Toronto Dominion Award, the International White Raven, and the Young Adult Book of the Year from the Canadian Library Association. She's also been nominated for the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, Germany's most prestigious literary prize, as well as the Writer's Trust Vicky Metcalfe Award for her body of work, among many others. Her works have been bestsellers in the New York Times and Publishers Weekly, and have been recommended by Rosie O'Donnell and Oprah. Her works have been translated into over 25 languages, and they are taught in North American and worldwide children's literary curricula. She currently resides in British Columbia.