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Gr 4 Up–Amelia Albright wakes on the first day of her spring break with low expectations for a dull week at home. While she thinks everyone else is relaxing in Florida, her vacation turns out to be anything but ordinary. As Amelia strikes up an unexpected friendship with Casey, the nephew of the owner of the art studio Amelia frequents, she wavers on the edge of feelings she has never before experienced. Casey confides in Amelia about the emotional pain with which he's struggling as he watches his parents' marriage ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

The elegiac spirit of Emily Dickinson's poem "The Bustle in a House" (from which this book's title is taken) reverberates throughout Henkes's story of people struggling to cope with love, loss, change, and human frailty. Twelve-year-old Amelia Albright is dreading her upcoming spring-break week (the novel's time frame) at home in Madison, Wisconsin. Her best friend is away for the year, and her melancholic and withdrawn father has rejected the idea of a Florida vacation. With encouragement from their loving housekeeper, Amelia s...Log In or Sign Up to Read More