Sun & Spoon by Kevin Henkes

the name, was short and solid, like her father. And Pam, spelled backward, was map. Her mother always seemed to have the answers, seemed to know what to do. She knew the way, and not just when driving a car or hiking.
    Alice liked her last name, Rice, because it rhymed with nice, and she took this as a good sign.
    Alice liked her first name most of the time. She didn’t like it when her father called her Alice in Wonderland, which he rarely did any longer. He did still call her Pudding, which she didn’t mind as long as none of her friends heard him. Pudding was short for Alice Rice Pudding, which he found hilarious.
    Alice had given up wanting a brother or sister. “Out of the question,” her father would say. “I’m too old,” her mother would add. Alice thought that a brother would have made her family complete, especially a brother named Eric, because Eric and Rice have the exact same letters. Back home in Wisconsin, Alice had a stuffed polar bear and a purple betta fish called Eric. And she’d already named their rental car Eric, too.
    Before Alice knew it, her father was steering Eric off the road onto a narrow driveway of crushed seashells. The crunch beneath the tires was familiar. They stopped briefly at the tiny office to check in and get the keys. Then they drove toward the beach between two rows of low, pastel-colored cottages. They pulled up to number two—the cottage Alice and her parents stayed in every year. It was painted cotton-candy pink.
    â€œHere we are, Pudding,” said Alice’s father.
    And they were.
    And Alice was filled with joy.

Praise for the Acclaimed Novels of Award-Winning Author Kevin Henkes
“Kevin Henkes’s words are worth a thousand pictures.” — The New York Times
    The Year of Billy Miller (available September 2013)
    Illustrated by the author
    â€œBilly Miller’s second-grade year is quietly spectacular in a wonderfully ordinary way. Sweetly low-key and totally accessible.” — Kirkus Reviews
    Olive’s Ocean
    Winner of a Newbery Honor
    â€œCharacters and setting are painted in with the deft strokes of an experienced artist.” — Kirkus Reviews
    Junonia
    A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
    â€œHenkes captures the honest frustrations and not-so-nice moments of kid-dom, wrapped in spare, lilting language and evocative illustrations.” — Family Circle
    Bird Lake Moon
    â€œA novel as tender as his acclaimed Olive’s Ocean . . . . Remarkable.” — Publishers Weekly
    â€œA significant and highly readable book.” — School Library Journal
    The Birthday Room
    â€œHenkes explores family relationships with breathtaking tenderness, showing how feelings of guilt, bitterness and fear can be quelled by more deeply rooted love.” — Publishers Weekly
    Sun & Spoon
    An American Library Association Notable Book
    â€œHenkes captures young angst with respect and honesty.” — School Library Journal
    Two Under Par
    Illustrated by the author
    â€œTouching and funny.” — Publishers Weekly
    Protecting Marie
    A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
    â€œA simply told but multilayered story, rich in imagery and feeling.” — Kirkus Reviews
    Words of Stone
    Library of Congress Children’s Book of the Year
    â€œAn outstanding book. One of the year’s best.” — Kirkus Reviews
    The Zebra Wall
    â€œFans of Beverly Cleary and Betsy Byars will enjoy this Henkes selection.” — School Library Journal

Copyright
    S UN & SPOON . Copyright © 1997 by Kevin Henkes. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced