Heartbeat
4/5
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About this ebook
“A stunning accomplishment. This story pierces the heart.” —Chicago Sun-Times
RUN RUN RUN. That’s what twelve-year-old Annie loves to do. When she’s barefoot and running, she can hear her heart beating…thump-THUMP, thump-THUMP.
It’s a rhythm that makes sense in a year when everything’s shifting: Her mother is pregnant, her grandfather is forgetful, and her best friend, Max, is always moody. Everything changes over time, just like the apple Annie’s been assigned to draw a hundred times.
Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech masterfully weaves this tender and intuitive story told in free verse about a young girl beginning to understand the many rhythms of life, and how she fits within them.
Named one of the New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
“Tenderhearted. Vintage Creech. Its richness lies in its sheer simplicity.” —School Library Journal (starred review)
“The story soars as Annie’s feet fly.” —Bookpage
Sharon Creech
Sharon Creech has written twenty-one books for young people and is published in over twenty languages. Her books have received awards in both the U.S. and abroad, including the Newbery Medal for Walk Two Moons, the Newbery Honor for The Wanderer, and Great Britain’s Carnegie Medal for Ruby Holler. Before beginning her writing career, Sharon Creech taught English for fifteen years in England and Switzerland. She and her husband now live in Maine, “lured there by our grandchildren,” Creech says. www.sharoncreech.com
Read more from Sharon Creech
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Reviews for Heartbeat
35 ratings33 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Memorable story told in free verse of the realities of family life and the joy of running and art. Y6+.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/54Q 3PA novel in verse that pulses with a fresh perspective. 12 year old Annie enjoys running barefoot and drawing the world around her. Sweet and simple, her daily observations and musings envelop the reader into her world. While a rather idyllic setting, the tone never becomes too saccharine and Annie's voice lingers long after her story is read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is a compilation of poems in various verse that tell the story of Annie. Annie is twelve years old, and is going through some pretty big life changes, including her mother having another baby, her grandfather loosing his memory, and a temperamental best friend. She finds comfort in running alone, and drawing. I thought this book was such a unique and interesting way to present the thoughts of a twelve year old. The whole book had a wonderful cadence, and did a great job emoting the thoughts of a tween realistically. I would love to read this to older students and have them work on a story told in poetry, or even just write one poem about the events that occur in their life or even just in that day. I also think that the content of the book is incredibly relate able to kids in that age group, and it would be comforting to them to read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is about a young girl following her own heart rather than going along with "the herd".
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A novel in verse about a girl named Annie who loves to run and is coping with a lot of changes in her life, including a new baby, a grandfather with alzheimer's, and a best friend who is increasingly moody. It's really lovely, and I liked it a lot.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was an amazing book, and I would recemend it for anyone who enjoys poems. It is appropriate for all ages.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Written completely in free verse, this book took a few chapters to grab my attention, but by the "Footnotes" chapter, I was hooked.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is full of emotion. Once you start this book it is hard to put it down.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My copy has the yellow apple cover.Heartbeat As I have probably mentioned, my favourite used bookstore is closing soon. I sauntered over there the other day to see how it was going (big sale, you know). As luck would have it, I happened upon another gem from Sharon Creech, she of Love that Dog, Hate That Cat wonder.Heartbeat is told in the voice of 12-year old Annie, whose great love is running. It is a coming-of-age story, as she processes and comes to understand her world. Her world includes her best friend and running buddy, Max, her parents and baby growing inside her mom, and her grandpa whose health and memory are not what they once were. But Annie also shows her strength and grace not only at home, but in school, dealing with her English classes, art classes and unwanted pressure from a track coach to join the team. Annie is a girl who has a solid sense of herself and it is a joy to share a glimpse of this through this year of her life. Sharon Creech has done it again, creating a compelling story in spare, free verse, that can easily be read in one sitting. I didn't want it to end. For those of you who loved the other 2, I highly recommend this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5heatrbeat is really good. there is a girl and she loves to run a hole lot. she has a friend that likes to run also. her mom is prenet. she has a grantpa thats really old. one day wile she was watching a race a lady comes a gets her and takes her to her mom. she having the baby. dose the babay come out a live ro not. read the book to find out if the baby dies or not. this book was really heard to put down.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A story told from Annie's point of view, about what matters to her most, running, art, family and her friend Max. It's the beat of running and the rhythms of life that make this book a delight to read. Mrs. Freely art assignment of drawing an apples a day for 100 days creates a visual picture of the artistic side of Annie. a thoughtful and delightful book of an independent young girl who is true to herself.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Annie loves to run, just not competitively and not in shoes. She could keep running forever, just not on a team. Max wants her to join him on the track team, her mom is pregnant, and her grandfather had dementia and it's getting worse. How will she deal with it all? A beautiful book in verse
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wonderful book, although it's written with young people in mind this adult loved it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is really good! Its about Annie's point of view. She loves to run. She is an only child..and her mom is going to have a baby! She lives with her mom,dad, and grandpa..who is VERY forgetful. Every day after school she draws an apple. She 100 drawings of apples. This book is really easy to read! So I HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING IT..at any age!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heartbeat by Sharon Creech is a book written in poetry. The story is of Annie, who loves to run. Annie lives with her pregnant mother, father, and grandfather. She loves to run with her friend Max. Max does not come from a very good home life and hopes that being a good runner will be his ticket out of town. Max tries to get Annie to join the girls track team, but she runs for the pleasure of running. Annie's mother has her baby and Annie begins to understand the circle of life by seeing the new baby with her grandpa.This book really hit home with me because my own grandpa is having health problems. I seemed to pick it up at just the right time.In the book Annie tells us about several assignment given to her by her teachers. Her art teacher has her draw 100 pictures of an apple. Her English teacher makes a list of words the students are not allowed to use in their writing. The English teacher also has them make a list of things they fear and love. I think all of these would be good assignments.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a really beautiful book. Blank verse like this is very accessible to children but this has something for all ages.It's the tale of a girl who likes to run whose mother is expecting a baby and grandfather who is getting old. Simple but quite powerful in places.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I have read this book many, many times. I love it!!! :)
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book is written in poetry and sometimes it's hard to understand but I love how Sharon Creech compares things to things that you would have never expected to be compared to. The ending is sort of a cliff hanger but it's good
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I love how this book is written by poems. I think it makes it more meaningful in a way. It's nice how the author compares it to different things. I also like how her emotions are clearly shown.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5i loved this book it is so discriptive and it talks all about this girls life and what she does and it is just a really awesome bookl.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Heartbeat is written as a poem, but it doesn’t rhyme. It is a story and reads like a story, but I think the fact that it is written as a poem guides the reader to follow the story and not be distracted by too many words. It is in the first person, as most Young Adult novels seem to be, and the girl telling the story likes to run, but she is not competitive. She does not understand why people race to win, because she likes to run by herself or with one friend, and she runs barefoot just because she likes to run.Throughout the story she is learning about life and thinking about what she likes to do, and besides running she loves to draw. In the story she is having a hard time seeing her grandfather forgetting things, but this is balanced by the joy of her mother having a baby. This is a peaceful story that is enjoyable to read.I enjoyed the parts about what she was learning from her teacher about footnotes, “forbidden words,” and using the thesaurus. For a book written as a poem with no real sentence structure, there was a lot about grammar in it!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Age/Grade Level: 4-8 gradersGenre: Realistic Fiction novel written in a poetic style. Themes: New baby in the Family, Aging Grandparent, The influences of pressure, AcceptanceThis novel is about 12 year old Annie who is about to be a big sister. Her mom is pregnant throughout the novel. Annie loves to run and this is like the heartbeat of the new baby. Thump, Thump, Thump which is repeated throughout the novel. Annie's grandpa lives with them and he is getting old and is starting to forget things. Annie's best friend, Max wants Annie to join the track team but Annie doesn't want to. She doesn't want to wear shoes or run for anything except the love of running. She holds her ground even when the track coach pressures her. Annie draws an apple for 100 days and notices the changes.I really enjoyed this book. I listened to it on tape and I feel that I need to go back and read the novel because of the way it is written. It is hard to listen to a novel when it is written is poetically. I really enjoyed Annie's attitude towards running in this story because I think that today kids play sports for all the wrong reasons and it takes the fun out of them. This connection to doing sports because it is fun should be taught in every school. There should also never be a point in public education where you are not good enough to join. I would like to have my students read this book and then make connections to their own lives and sports, pregnancy, aging family member, and art.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is a good example of a realistic novel because Annie is not a real person, but the events that happen to Annie are very much things that happen to many people in this world, such as their mom getting pregnant later in life, and watching their grandpa get older and older, and start dealing with dementia.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A sweet book that was recommended to me by one of my students. It is emotionally potent and tells a story of a family and their experiences with love and loss.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Twelve-year-old Annie loves to run with her friend Max. During the approximate year that this book takes place, she experiences the rhythm of life in her running, in her mother's pregnancy and the birth of her brother, in her friendship with Max, in her art class. The story is told in lyrical free verse rather than prose.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A tenderhearted story told in spare, free-verse poems, Heartbeat is the story of twelve-year-old Annie, who loves to run for the sheer pleasure of running. It is when she feels the most free in a year when everything in her life is changing, just like the apple that Annie has been assigned to draw one hundred times. Annie's comfortable, tightly knit world begins to unravel when she learns that her mother is pregnant and she becomes increasingly aware that her beloved Grandpa, a former champion racer, is slipping into dementia. She is a resourceful, self-possessed kid who takes comfort in the familiar but is able to face change and take it in stride. She marvels at the new life taking shape in her midst (her father provides month-by-month summations of the baby's development) and mourns the loss of her grandfather's strong and nurturing wisdom. School, art class, and chores appear throughout the verses, creating an everyday rhythm that matches the footfalls of Annie who loves to move, but who is willing to stop and smell the roses. She is attempting to understand not only herself and her place in her family, but also to understand those around her. At the same time, she is attempting to understand larger, more complex questions: how we become who we are, and to what degree we should conform; how we are unique and yet how we are all alike.I would recommend this book for most eighth graders, but in particular to reluctant readers. It is so rare to find a book told from the point of view of a 12 year old that anybody over 12 could enjoy reading! It is told in a loose poem form, it is highly readable, moves along quickly, and has a wonderful rhythm to it. It is wonderful for children whose life is in flux. Lots of emotional issues flow through the book, but it is still a good choice for children who are uncomfortable with too much intensity in books, as the writing is light and the issues are handled with care. (Amazon)
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Mediocre. It's very similar in style and voice to Love That Dog, and it's a VERY easy read. Totally accessible cute little story for middle school girls whose reading levels are not up to par. Two of my 8th grade girls loved it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is a good book. It shows how a person thinks.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is very descriptive and engrossing at the start. However it can become a chore to read due to repetitive literature.But puting that aside, thae
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The way the book was written was different. The chapters were written like free- verse poems. The book was written through the character's eyes and is a little interesting to read.
Book preview
Heartbeat - Sharon Creech
FOOTFALLS
Thump-thump, thump-thump
bare feet hitting the grass
as I run run run
in the air and like the air
weaving through the trees
skimming over the ground
touching down
thump-thump, thump-thump
here and there
there and here
in the soft damp grass
thump-thump, thump-thump
knowing I could fly fly fly
but letting my feet
thump-thump, thump-thump
touch the earth
at least for now …
MAX
Sometimes when I am running
a boy appears
like my sideways shadow
from the trees he emerges
running
falling into thump-thump steps
beside me.
Hey, Annie, he says
and I say, Hey, Max
and we run
fast
and
smooth
and
easy
and we do not talk
until we reach the park
and the red bench
where we rest.
Max is a strange boy
thirteen
a year older than I am
deeply serious
determined.
He’s in training
he says
in training to escape.
BEFORE I WAS BORN
My mother says
I was running running running
inside her before I was even born.
She could feel my legs whirling
thump-thump, thump-thump
and she says that when I was born
I came out with my legs racing
as if I would take off
right then, right there
and dash straight out of her life.
She says it made her laugh
and it scared her, too,
because she’d only just met me
and didn’t want me to race away
quite so soon.
She says I’ve been
running
running
running
ever since—or nearly ever since—
I ran before I crawled
I ran from dawn to dusk
And sometimes at night
she would see my legs still restless
as if I were running
in my sleep
through my dreams.
I tell her not to worry
that I will always come home
because that is where
I get my start.
QUEASY
I was worried about my mother
who started taking naps
and stopped eating
and threw up in the kitchen sink
and in the bathroom
and in the car
and I was pretty sure
she had a deadly disease
and she would shrivel into nothing
and she would die
and I would be alone
with my father
who would cry
and I would run run run
but I would have to come back
thump-thump
thump-thump
sooner or later.
BUT!
But! My mother did not die.
She does not have a deadly disease.
Instead she has a baby growing
inside her
little tiny cells
multiplying every second
and the queasiness has stopped
and now she feels good—
like a goddess, she says
and we look at the books
which show cells
multiplying
and it seems miraculous
and strange
and sometimes creepy
and I ask her if it feels as if an alien
is inside her
and she says
Sometimes, yes.
GRANDPA
Grandpa lives with us
ever since Grandma died
and now we take care of him
because he is poorly.
He says he is falling to bits
little pieces stop working each day
and his brain is made
of scrambled eggs.
On his wall are photos
of when he was young
and he looks like me
with frizzy black hair
and long skinny legs
and often he is blurry
because he was running.
One photo shows him standing tall
with a medal around his neck
and a trophy in his hands
but his face is not smiling
and when I ask him why
he was not happy
sometimes he says:
I don’t remember
and sometimes he says:
Is that me?
and sometimes he says:
I didn’t want the trophy
and when I ask him why
he didn’t want the trophy
sometimes he says:
I don’t remember
and sometimes he says:
A trophy is a silly thing.
THE RACER
Mom says Grandpa was a champion racer.
He won the regionals when he was nine
and the state championship when he was twelve
and the nationals when he was fifteen
and then
he stopped
running
and he wouldn’t say why
and he didn’t run again
until my mother was three
and the two of them could run
together
and that, my grandfather told my mother,
was the only kind of running
he would ever do
because it was the best kind of running
and the only kind of running
that made any sense to him at all.
MOODY MAX
Moody Max
Moody Max
puzzles my brain.
I’ve known him all my life.
Our grandpas used to take us
to the same park
the one we run to now.
We balanced each other
on the teeter-totter
tossed sand at each other
dug in the dirt together.
We got older
played catch with pinecones
pushed each other on the swings
chased around the grass.
Max would laugh one minute
scowl the next
pinch my arm
and then kiss the pinch mark.
Then his father left
and his grandpa died
and Max got quieter
more serious
and when he ran
he pounded the dirt
with his feet
and ran farther and faster
as if he could run
right out of his life.
He thinks I’m spoiled