Sara Pennypacker

Sara Pennypacker has developed a wide body of children’s novels and chapter books that respect the intensity of young people’s private worlds. Here in the Real World follows Ware, an imaginative boy sent to a recreation camp, and Jolene, who is growing a garden in the ruins of an abandoned church nearby. Their shared refuge becomes a test of cooperation when outside plans threaten the space. Balzer + Bray brought out the story in 2020, with illustrations by Jon Klassen. Pennypacker has written more than twenty children’s books, including the Pax novels, the Clementine and Waylon series, Summer of the Gypsy Moths, and Leeva at Last. Her work has received a Golden Kite Award, a Christopher Award, and numerous children’s-choice honors. Here in the Real World brings familiar elements of her writing together: distinctive children, an unsentimental friendship, care for a place, and a conflict between conventional measures of usefulness and a child’s sense of possibility. Ware’s medieval ideals become practical when imagination helps him recognize and challenge unfairness.