• Publication Season/Year: Winter, 2009
• Publisher: HarperCollins/The Bowen Press
• Release Date: February 3, 2009
• ISBN (Trade): 978-0-06-162497-1
• ISBN (Library): 978-0-06-162499-05

Eleanor “Groovy” Robinson loves cooking and plans to go to culinary school just as soon as she’s old enough.  But even Groovy’s thoughtfully planned menus won’t fix the things that start to go wrong the year she turns eleven.  Suddenly, her father is in jail, her best friend’s long absent mother reappears, and the swallows that make their annual migration to her hometown arrive surprisingly early.

As Groovy begins to expect the unexpected, she learns about the importance of forgiveness and starts to understand the complex stories of the people around her.  And, on a night where nothing goes as planned, she is amazed to discover that even a really big shake-up can’t get in the way of a family that needs to come together.

Kathryn Fitzmaurice’s debut novel is as full of promise as the swallows that return home to San Juan Capistrano each spring.

Click here for a reading and teaching guide:   http://www.kathrynfitzmaurice.com/PDFs/Swallows_RGG.pdf

Reviews and Praise for The Year the Swallows Came Early

“Eleven-year-old Groovy Robinson’s struggles to untangle the complicated lives of her parents are at the center of this gentle tale of hope and forgiveness.  Fitzmaurice paints a picture of small-town life that is as warm, charming, complex, and as thoroughly believable as her characters.  I loved this book!” – Ann M. Martin, author of A Corner of the Universe.

(Booklist Starred Review, February 2009)-What all readers will appreciate are the beautiful portraits of the characters, young and old, and the way the story delicately weaves its seaside setting into the story. Groovy’s first-person narrative sensitively shows both her strength and her uncertainty, and in the end readers will understand when she finally embraces what she knows to be true: “You gotta forgive.”

(School Library Journal, February, 2009)This first novel is peopled with three-dimensional characters whose imperfections make them believable and interesting. The well-structured plot is underscored by clear writing and authentic dialogue, and short chapters keep the story moving. The book draws a parallel with the birds of Capistrano, and a novel that encourages understanding, tolerance, and forgiveness is as welcome as the returning swallows.—Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, formerly at LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI

(Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2009)Eleven-year-old Eleanor “Groovy” Robinson is a girl with a dream. Fascinated by food and blessed with a culinary knack, Groovy plans to use the money left by her great-grandmother to go to cooking school, until she discovers that her father has gambled this money—her money—away. What’s worse, her own mother has had him arrested for it. Groovy is by turns hurt, angry and lonely, but underneath all that she is confused. Her friend Frankie faces a similar situation: His mother vanished, leaving him in the care of his stepbrother, only to return years later hoping for a blissful reunion. In this daring, emotionally complex story, both Groovy and Frankie try to figure out how to accept people, especially parents, for who they are without abandoning their own needs and their own developing notions of right and wrong. As in real life, not everything is resolved in the end, and many questions remain, but things have achieved a fragile balance, rather like the ingredients in a delicate sauce. (Fiction. 10-14)

A Best New Book listed by Instructor Magazine:The Year the Swallows Came Early By Kathryn Fitzmaurice. $16.99. (Scholastic.com, Instructor Magazine, January 1, 2009)
Forces are colliding for 11-year-old Groovy Robinson—her father is going to jail, her best friend’s mother has mysteriously come home, and the swallows have returned to San Juan Capistrano earlier than anyone can remember. Fitzmaurice’s lovely debut has all the hallmarks of a classic. Grades 4–6.

From Shelf Awareness, February 26, 2009:
Children’s Book Review: The Year the Swallows Came Early
The Year the Swallows Came Early by Kathryn Fitzmaurice (Bowen/HarperCollins, $16.99, 970061624971/0061624977, 288 pp., ages 9-12, February 2009)One of the greatest reasons for being in the book business is to discover a completely original voice. The other is to put that voice into as many readers’ hands as possible. This is one of those voices–that of 11-year-old narrator Eleanor Robinson, named for her great-grandmother, a science-fiction writer, who goes by the nickname Groovy. Everyone should have a Groovy in their circle of friends. As this debut novel begins, Groovy must come to grips with some harsh realities: she may live in “a perfect stucco house, just off the sparkly Pacific,” but appearances are deceiving. In fact, her house “was like one of those See’s candies with beautiful swirled chocolate on the outside,” but “coconut flakes on the inside, all gritty and hard, like undercooked white rice.” In the first chapter, Groovy’s father gets arrested, right there in front of the Swallow’s Shop and Ferry, as the two of them walk into town. Groovy has no idea why he was arrested, though she knows “Daddy seemed to get the kind of bosses who ended up firing him,” and she knows her friend Frankie doesn’t quite approve of Daddy. But when Groovy tells Mama, and Mama says that she’s the one who called the police, Groovy must rethink everything. (That’s the second chapter.)Fitzmaurice perfectly captures a small California town where everyone knows everyone else’s business. But this gifted first-time author also uses that setting as a foil for the many discoveries Groovy makes. No one is quite what he or she seems to be. What Groovy learns about her father may be a disappointing surprise, but she also learns some unexpected things about the wisdom and strength of her Mama, who owns a quarter of the town’s beauty parlor, about classmate Marisol Cruz, who seemed like she “wasn’t the nicest girl” but who comes through for Groovy not once but twice, and about even Mr. Tom the homeless man, who gives Groovy a mysterious message that ultimately helps her make sense of her rapidly unraveling world. Eleanor “Groovy” Robinson’s passion for cooking, for nourishing others and for constantly seeking to improve her recipes, her home life and her town results in a bounty of alluring sights, smells and tastes. (Chocolate-covered strawberries serve as a crucial plot element–do make sure you’ve eaten a good meal before reading, or keep snacks handy.) Fitzmaurice possesses a rare gift for keeping the narrative entirely and credibly in the mind of her sixth-grade heroine (“I remembered when Mama and Daddy and I took a week off to drive to the Grand Canyon, so I could see more of the world, and they could get away from it all”) as Groovy gains the maturity that comes from surviving seemingly unsustainable pain.

About the Author

When Kathryn was thirteen years old, she spent the summer with her grandmother in New York City, who was a science fiction writer. After seeing how her grandmother could make her characters into whomever she wanted, Kathryn decided she wanted to become a writer someday, too. After teaching elementary school in California, she now writes full time, and lives in Monarch Beach, California, with her husband, two sons, and her dog, Holly. She belongs to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and has won various awards at several conferences for her unpublished works. As a past teacher, one of Kathryn’s favorite things to do is to visit schools and libraries. She has experience in managing and presenting to large groups of adults and students, as well as small groups under thirty, and can tailor any presentation to meet the needs of specific individual groups as well. THE YEAR THE SWALLOWS CAME EARLY is her first novel. She is busy writing her second.  Read more about how to book or contact Kathryn Fitzmaurice.