My niece and I got most of the way through this book, but not completely through. It was just too slow for both of us, it lacked the excitement and adventure of Poppy, and we just never got to the point of really caring about any of the characters. Today we finally decided to give up on Poppy and Rye.We were both very impressed, however, with the scene where Poppy tells Ragweed's parents about his death. That was moving and well written, and when I read that bit out loud to the kids, they both stopped and listened quietly. You could have heard a pin drop.