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The Carnival at Bray
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley
18 posts | 18 read | 15 to read
Winner of the 2014 Helen Sheehan YA Book Prize It''s 1993, and the Teen Spirit Generation pulses to the hum of the grunge movement. Sixteen-year-old Maggie Lynch is plucked from her blue-collar Chicago neighborhood to a small town on the Irish Sea. Surviving off care-packages of "Spin" magazine and Twizzlers from her rocker uncle Kevin, she wonders if she''ll ever find her place in this new world. When tragedy and first love simultaneously strike, Maggie embarks upon a forbidden quest to fulfill a dying wish. Her pilgrimage takes her from the coastal town of Bray to a dodgy youth hostel in Dublin and finally to a life-altering Nirvana concert in Rome. Maggie finds adventure, amazing music, and a mess of trouble, but also a previously untapped strength in herself to really live. Unlike other YAanovels, this story is beautifully character-driven and devoid of far-fetched coincidence. It avoids the tropes of being set in nameless suburbia or told in a sardonic first-person voice. The time period will appeal to the counterculture teens of todayawho have posters of Kurt Cobain plastered on their walls as well as theaolder set of readers who grew up with Maggie. Additional bonus features and suggested reading lists create an entire experience for any age."
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review
That-Bookish-Hiker
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley
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Mehso-so

16 yr old Maggie Lynch is uprooted from her home in Chicago to Ireland after her mom marries in 1993, the height of Nirvana and the grunge movement. Seeing Maggie growth is the book was my fav thing in this books beside the obvious 90s music name drops. This book was very nostalgic even if I‘ve never visited Ireland, the music alone brought me there in the story. This story had heavy situations like suicide and drugs that tied in with the music.

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That-Bookish-Hiker
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley
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I would have killed to be able to see Smashing Pumpkins perform at the record release party for Siamese Dream!

Luckily I got to see them a couple years ago and they played from this album and their others and it was amazing!

#currentlyreading

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MallenNC
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Foley
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One of the books I‘ve read that is set in #Ireland I remember really liking it.

Ireland is at the top of my list of places I want to go when travel is safe again! #LitsySpringBreak

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OriginalCyn620
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley
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Set in 1993, Chicago teen Maggie, relocates to Bray, Ireland when her mom marries an Irishman. She leaves behind everything she knows and loves, including her beloved uncle, a rocker who introduced Maggie to the grunge rock scene. In Ireland, she‘s a fish out of water but through a certain set of circumstances, she goes on a forbidden pilgrimage to see her favorite band, Nirvana, in #concert. I ❤️ this book!
#letstraveljuly

MallenNC Oh that‘s a good one for this prompt! 5y
OriginalCyn620 Thanks @MallenNC! I‘m a little proud of myself! 😝 5y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Sounds good!! ❤️ 5y
57 likes2 stack adds3 comments
review
Cruzdia1
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley
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Pickpick

This is a F book, Printz award winner and can be used in the classroom as a LC AS or IR. #UCFLAE3414SP18
When 1st love and sudden death simultaneously strike, a determined Maggie embarks on a life changing mission to fulfill a dying wish. Through her experiences Maggie discovers new things about life and herself.

Cruzdia1 A ESOL strategy that pairs well with this book is 17: Provide contextual support through audio visuals, models, demonstrations, realia, body language and facial expressions. This can be done by conducting a shared reading with an audio book version of the text to allow students to follow along the story with. (edited) 7y
Cruzdia1 A UDL strategy that pairs well with this activity is 8.2: Vary demands and resources to optimize challenge. 7y
Cruzdia1 Here‘s a link to the author discussing The Carnival at Bray, what inspired her to write it, the influence of 90‘s music, and the joy of meeting readers! This would be great to include in a AS! https://youtu.be/HDU1ESGgjSw 7y
DrSpalding What a great post. You are the first to read a Printz award winner. I like that you noted an audiobook and the idea of using this during an author study. 7y
2 likes4 comments
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Jas16
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley
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A YA novel about a girl sneaking off to a Nirvanna concert in another country to honor a dying wish #smellsliketeenspirit to me. I really enjoyed this one. #junetunz

Cinfhen Most definitely! So fitting 😎🎶🤘🏼 8y
merelybookish Sounds fun! 8y
41 likes2 comments
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OriginalCyn620
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley
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These are my #bestofmarch. Another good month! #marchintoreading

Cinfhen Nice graphics 💜📚💜 8y
PurpleyPumpkin Wow, well done!👌🏽 8y
Reviewsbylola Great books! 8y
39 likes3 comments
review
MallenNC
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley
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Pickpick

I found this book from a "Blind Date with a Book" article (on Book Riot, maybe?) that offered one line descriptions of novels, and I loved it. Sometimes coming of age novels can seem a little too treacly to me, but this one didn't. I loved the main character, Maggie, and the relationships she found when her mother marries and moves the family to a small village in Ireland. My favorite was Dan Sean, the 99 year-old who befriended her.

19 likes3 stack adds
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OriginalCyn620
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley
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Everything that ever happens to you only happens once, so you better never stop paying attention.

MallenNC I'm thinking of starting this book today! 8y
OriginalCyn620 It's a quick read! Let me know how you like it. I thought it was really good! 8y
27 likes2 comments
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OriginalCyn620
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley
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Happy St. Patrick's Day, Littens! ☘️☘️☘️
So far, I'm liking this book set in Ireland in 1993 about a teen girl on a pilgrimage to see Nirvana in concert.

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OriginalCyn620
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley
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The tagged book is on my #kindle, and these are the physical books for my #MarchTBR. #marchintoreading @RealLifeReading

BibliophileMomma I really like My Best Friend's Exorcism. 8y
Reviewsbylola I read and enjoyed the bottom three. 8y
27 likes2 comments
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emilyjwhit9
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley
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"They shatter and rebuild, shatter and rebuild, shatter and rebuild until they are old and worn and stooped from the work of it." Somehow this is hopeful to me. #lovethebook #teenread

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emilyjwhit9
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Foley
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"She was now a person who had to imagine a body she had known, a face she had loved, buried under boards, while over at the Montrose bird sanctuary, indifferent seagulls and winter birds gathered in the trees, and life continued for most things on earth as it always had."
For the full quote... #teenread #awesomeread

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Vexingcircumstance
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley
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Any fans of The Loud House? My daughter loves it. I wish we could buy it on DVD. Luna is one of my favorite characters. Of these book recommendations for her The Carnival At Bray looks interesting to me. It's in my tbr stack now. #theloudhouse #lunaloud #bookrecsforfictionalcharacters

6 likes1 stack add
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aunt_feather
The Carnival at Bray | Jessie Ann Foley

Another example of the right book at the wrong time. I tried reading this a year ago and couldn't get past the first few pages. Picked it up now and I'm completely enthralled. Sometimes you just need to go back and try again.