“Right,” Sam said.
They opened the back door of the deli. “Just a second,” Sam said. He went into Onji's office to get to the Internet and smoothed out the paper with Caroline's address. He wanted to be sure she'd get the first message as soon as she reached home. One thing. One word. Yes.
So eleven:
It could be anything. A street, a house number, a pair of chimneys that didn't
frighten him anymore.
His eleventh birthday.
The year he met his best friend.
It might even be the double masts on the boat
he'd sail every summer on the St. Lawrence,
with all of them, Mack, Onji, Anima, and Caroline.
It was the year he began to read.
Acknowledgments
To Wendy Lamb, my editor, who guided me through the book with wonderful patience, To George Nicholson, my agent, who cheered me on, To Dave Southard, who told me about the mist, and the foghorns, and the freighters on the St. Lawrence, and made it all come alive in my mind, To Kathy Winsor Bohlman, my friend, for her interest and help, To my children:
Jim, who “book talks” with me,
Bill, who read and reread, and gave me wonderful suggestions,
Alice, who read gently,
To my grandchildren, all seven, who keep me rooted in their world,
and to Jim, my husband, who believes in me.
Love and thanks to all of you.
About the Author
Patricia Reilly Giff is the author of many beloved books for children, including the Kids of the Polk Street School books, the Friends and Amigos books, and the Polka Dot Private Eye books. Several of her novels for older readers have been chosen as ALA Notable Books and ALA Best Books for Young Adults. They include The Gift of the Pirate Queen; All the Way Home; Nory Ryan's Song, a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Golden Kite Honor Book for Fiction; Maggie's Door; and the Newbery Honor Books Lily's Crossing and Pictures of Hollis Woods. Lily's Crossing was also chosen as a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book. Her most recent books are A House of Tailors; Willow Run, the companion to Lily's Crossing; and Water Street, the companion to Nory Ryan's Song and Maggie's Door. Patricia Reilly Giff lives in Connecticut.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the
product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2008 by Patricia Reilly Giff
All rights reserved.
WENDY LAMB BOOKS and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
www.randomhouse.com/kids
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at
www.randomhouse.com/teachers
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Giff, Patricia Reilly.
Eleven / Patricia Reilly Giff.—1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-52285-6
1. Woodwork—Fiction. 2. Orphans—Fiction. 3. Grandfathers—Fiction.
4. Memory—Fiction. 5. Reading—Fiction. 6. Schools—Fiction.
7. New York (State)—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.G3626E1 2008
[Fie]—dc22
v3.0
Patricia Reilly Giff, Eleven
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