I enjoyed the premise and back and forth story line but found the ending unconvincing. Perhaps it will work with the intended audience. ( )

This book got off to a great start, had wonderful potential, but didn't quite wrap up in as satisfying a way as I would have liked. The elements of the supernatural, while intriguing to the plot, didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story about concern for a young sibling who is refusing to speak. I did enjoy the idea of connecting to past lives, but to think that someone in the present could change the outcome of someone in the past wasn't explained as well as I would have liked.

Curricular connections: In terms of being a mentor text for writing, students could use the author's technique of going back and forth in time to write a narrative. In terms of learning about relationships, this book could spark discussion about how to treat others in terms of patience and understanding. ( )

A interesting, and different read then some children's books i have read. It introduces lots of supernatural aspects, as well as family and love.

Listening for Lucca by Suzanne LaFleur is the story of a teenage girl who has been dreaming about a house she's never seen and her much younger brother who hasn't talked for more than a year. In the hope of coaxing Lucca to talk again, their parents uproot the family from busy Brooklyn, to a small coastal town in Maine.

As it turns out, Siena's family has bought a Victorian style house that matches her dreams perfectly. Worse yet, the house seems to be making her dreams all the more real, revealing a two part story that must have taken place during WWII.

As with so many of these dream or ghost story plots, there's an uncanny parallelism between the tragic story of the past and the current situation. What I wasn't expecting, was Siena being able to affect the past. Usually these curses don't work that way; it was refreshing to watch as Siena found a way out for both the family before hers and her own family. ( )

Summary:
Sienna, a young 13-year-old girl, dreams about World War images, such as plane crashes and sinking ships, and random abandon things, which she soon begins to develop an obsession for. Sienna's brother, Lucca, stopped talking when he was about 2-years-old, and it has been almost a year and half later, and still not utter of a word. Sienna's Mom and Dad decide to move from Brooklyn to Maine, hoping that it will be a fresh start for Lucca and Sienna, since they have both alienated themselves. The new house they move into is similar to the one that Sienna dreamt about previously. While Sienna starts a new life for herself and makes new friends, she feels like the house is haunted and is drawn back to her obsession of finding abandoned things. Sienna finds a pen in her closet and begins writing in the diary, although the pen seems to take over and writes a story itself of Sarah and Joshua, who are brother and sister that lived in the same house during WWII. She connects her visions to the stories and images of Sarah and Joshua, and turns out that they hold the key for unlocking Lucca's voice.

I really enjoyed the historical and magical aspects of this book. My favorite part was when Sienna discovered a path by her house that she had never noticed before, which led her to the same steps leading to the water where Sarah found a key that she believed could take her voice away. As Sienna searched the water, she felt a bronze-colored key, and new immediately it could help bring Lucca's voice back. This moment of realization is one that everyone can relate to, especially when you search for an answer for so long and you finally find something! When Lucca finally spoke and said "no" to eating his peas, Sienna and her mother and father were ecstatic. Sienna treasured the key. The central message of this book is understanding how the emotions of struggles and hardships during WWII are similar to those Sienna and Lucca felt in their lives; everyone feels grief, although there is always hope. ( )