Book Trailer Premiere: Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin

Dear Melanie Conklin,

I had this grand plan to respond to email messages and finish a project during a recent flight from Chicago to Orlando. As I waited for the plane to take off, I told myself I would read 10 pages of Counting Thyme before tackling my long to-do list. I read 10 pages and then 20 pages and then 30 pages and then 150 pages. I could not put down Counting Thyme. Thank you for writing a novel that kept me turning pages and worrying about Thyme and her little brother. 

Thank you for dropping by to premiere Counting Thyme's extraordinary book trailer. 

Your fan,

-John 

Thank you, Mr. Schu, for sharing the book trailer for Counting Thyme here today. You have the best trailers on your blog! Counting Thyme tells the story of Thyme Owens, whose family moves from sunny San Diego to New York City for Thyme’s little brother’s cancer treatment. This is a big move. It’s hard on everyone in the Owens family. For the book trailer, I wanted to focus on these questions: If you had to leave home, what would you miss? What would be worth leaving for? These are the questions facing Thyme at the beginning of her story.

Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin | Publication Date: 4/12/16. 

When eleven-year-old Thyme Owens’ little brother, Val, is accepted into a new cancer drug trial, it’s just the second chance that he needs. But it also means the Owens family has to move to New York, thousands of miles away from Thyme’s best friend and everything she knows and loves. The island of Manhattan doesn’t exactly inspire new beginnings, but Thyme tries to embrace the change for what it is: temporary.

After Val’s treatment shows real promise and Mr. Owens accepts a full-time position in the city, Thyme has to face the frightening possibility that the move to New York is permanent. Thyme loves her brother, and knows the trial could save his life—she’d give anything for him to be well—but she still wants to go home, although the guilt of not wanting to stay is agonizing. She finds herself even more mixed up when her heart feels the tug of new friends, a first crush, and even a crotchety neighbor and his sweet whistling bird. All Thyme can do is count the minutes, the hours, and days, and hope time can bring both a miracle for Val and a way back home.

With equal parts heart and humor, Melanie Conklin’s debut is a courageous and charming story of love and family—and what it means to be counted.Newbery-winning Rules meets Counting by 7s in this affecting story of a girl’s devotion to her brother and what it means to be home

When eleven-year-old Thyme Owens’ little brother, Val, is accepted into a new cancer drug trial, it’s just the second chance that he needs. But it also means the Owens family has to move to New York, thousands of miles away from Thyme’s best friend and everything she knows and loves. The island of Manhattan doesn’t exactly inspire new beginnings, but Thyme tries to embrace the change for what it is: temporary.

After Val’s treatment shows real promise and Mr. Owens accepts a full-time position in the city, Thyme has to face the frightening possibility that the move to New York is permanent. Thyme loves her brother, and knows the trial could save his life—she’d give anything for him to be well—but she still wants to go home, although the guilt of not wanting to stay is agonizing. She finds herself even more mixed up when her heart feels the tug of new friends, a first crush, and even a crotchety neighbor and his sweet whistling bird. All Thyme can do is count the minutes, the hours, and days, and hope time can bring both a miracle for Val and a way back home.

With equal parts heart and humor, Melanie Conklin’s debut is a courageous and charming story of love and family—and what it means to be counted.

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