The Cedarville Shop and the Wheelbarrow Swap
Written in the same sweet and quirky style as Krone’s award-winning debut novel Small Mercies, which was named a Best Middle-Grade Book of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews and listed on the 2021 Outstanding International Books List by the United States Board on Books for Young People, The Cedarville Shop and the Wheelbarrow Swap is bursting with the heart and humor of the loveable main character Boi, but etched with the cultural acuity and practiced hand of the author. Young readers will recognize themselves in Boi’s universally relevant desires of a young pre-teen—love, friendship, belonging, and hope for a bigger future—and older readers will find much to explore in the book’s quiet reflections on the circumstances of growing up destitute, with unemployed parents and ailing elders. Based in a small, rural town in South Africa not far from the author’s home, with a young Black narrator, this book includes just enough geographical nuance to be educational for young readers, encouraging them to imagine life in other cultures, countries, and classes. Krone’s books capture the essence of this wonderful mess we call life and will bring out the inner child in readers of all ages.
Bridget Krone lives and works in a village called Hilton just outside Pietermaritzburg, in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa. Her office looks onto a field where cows graze in the winter and cranes (both crowned and blue) visit in the summer. She has spent most of her working life writing short novels and English language text books for school children in South Africa. Her favorite stories are those that, just when you expect a lesson, sing a song instead. Her debut novel, Small Mercies, was named a Best Middle-Grade Book of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews and featured on the 2021 Outstanding International Books List by the United States Board on Books for Young People.
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