46 pages • 1 hour read
The Key to Extraordinary
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Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Content Warning: This section discusses parental death.
Emma Pearl Casey wakes with an ache in her chest, which she calls the “Big Empty.” It is grief for her deceased mother. Despite this, Emma reminds herself that she could have her “Destiny Dream” tonight, a vision experienced by women in her family that reveals their future. She goes downstairs and stands in the Boneyard Cafe, her family’s bakery, which sits on the edge of a cemetery. Her brother, Topher, is making their signature hot chocolate, Boneyard Brew, and peach-lavender muffins. When Emma asks about Granny Blue, their grandmother, Topher nods to the closed office door; he suspects that she stayed up all night because they are struggling to make ends meet, a constant source of worry for Blue. When Topher asks if Emma is okay, she reveals the ache for her mom. Topher moves in for a hug, but Emma evades him and steps outside for the cemetery tour she gives every day.
Chapter 2 Summary
In the cemetery, Emma places flowers on graves. Although many believe that the place is haunted, she loves it. Then, Emma hears the chatter of people waiting for her tour, so she unlocks the gates, letting in a small crowd, including Uncle Periwinkle (or Peri) and Aunt Greta, Granny Blue’s brother and his wife. Emma announces that today’s tour will focus on the town’s famous loves, so she distributes heart-shaped sunglasses. Peri and Greta notice that something is wrong with Emma, and they assume that she had her Destiny Dream. She confesses, however, that the Big Empty kept her awake all night. Then, Emma suggests that they get started because the daisies blooming on the rooftops signal rain.
As Emma begins the tour, a young woman named Waverly Valentine joins the group. She is a hiker from the Appalachian Trail and was drawn here because of the Civil War history and legends of ghosts. Thunder rumbles, and Emma indicates that they may have to stop early. When Waverly asks about the Conductor, the breeze stills, and the thunder fades. Peri explains that the Conductor is a ghost whom many believe to be a Civil War soldier who hid treasure, and people have been searching for it ever since.
When the rain begins, Emma directs them back to the cafe. Waverly asks more questions about the Conductor. Emma admits that she has never heard the song, but Peri shares that he has; when he was 12, he ventured into the graveyard with friends at night. Knowing that the Conductor does not help anyone with ill intent, Peri declared his purity of heart. The Conductor crooned a cryptic response, which Emma hastily writes down. Peri admits that he was terrified and ran away before trying to solve the riddle. As thunder and lightning boom, he notes that many have searched for the treasure with no luck.
Chapter 3 Summary
Emma remembers her 10th birthday, when she rode on Granny Blue’s motorcycle. When they returned home, the elder woman said that Emma’s mom had a special birthday gift for her. Looking upset, Blue claimed that it was not the right time. Emma found her mom, thin and weak, sleeping on the back porch. The woman opened her eyes and asked about school. Despite Emma’s insistence that it was fine, her mom knew that Emma was bullied again. However, when Emma rested her head on her mother, she felt safe and at ease.
Then, despite Blue’s disapproval, Emma’s mom directed the girl to a trunk full of Keeping Susans, flowers that preserve things. Inside was a leather-bound book with yellowing pages. It was the Book of Days. For centuries, women in their family have done extraordinary things, and in 1777, Ingrid Noble was the first to record her feats: She had a dream where she stood in a field of blue flowers with General George Washington. Soon after, she became a spy for him. The entry ends with Ingrid’s wisdom about the importance of recording history. Emma’s mom explained that the women in their family have always had a dream about standing in a field of blue flowers that provides a clue to their future. This is the Destiny Dream. Her mom’s dream contained a guitar and led her to make music. Each woman recorded her story and included artifacts in the book. The women are called Wildflowers “because no matter how difficult the circumstance, and no matter where the wind carried them, they bloomed, bold and bright” (31). Emma is also destined to be a Wildflower and will be forever connected to her mom through this legacy.
Chapter 4 Summary
Back in the present, Cody Belle Chitwood, Emma’s best friend, arrives. Noticing Emma’s tired look, her friend assumes, incorrectly, that she had the Destiny Dream. Cody Belle grabs Boneyard Brew while Emma visits Granny Blue. In the office, she admires Blue, who is tall and strong and has tattoos up her arms. Unlike other grandmothers, Blue is tough, having once been a boxer. Uncle Peri is also there, and neither of them sees Emma. They are discussing Warren Steele, a developer who wants to buy the cafe. Blue confesses that they need the money, but Peri argues against it. Emma emerges and questions Blue, who has sadness and apology in her eyes. Emma reminds Blue of the saying that “fear is just a flashlight that helps you find your courage” (42). She pleads with Blue to be a Wildflower.
After talking with Cody Belle about everything, Emma retreats to her room to look at the Book of Days. She reads about Lola Daniels, a journalist who took photographs and wrote award-winning articles about Blackbird Hollow. The entry ends with her advice that stories are sometimes close to home. Emma scans the titles beneath each name, noting how extraordinary they seem. She notices where Blue ripped her page out and where two long-lost relatives, Lily Kate and Amelia Abernathy, had theirs ripped out too. Suddenly, Emma remembers the Conductor’s song and the treasure that could save the cafe. Remembering Peri’s song to the ghost, Emma croons the words before she loses her nerve. Mid-verse, she is startled by Penny Lane, a loyal crow that Blue rescued. Then, Emma hears a child quietly singing the Conductor’s response. Drawn to the music, Emma ventures out into the dark cemetery alone.
Chapter 5 Summary
Terrified, Emma sings about being pure of heart. Abruptly, a ghostly figure pops up and runs toward the exit. Thinking that they’re the Conductor, Emma swallows her fear and pursues them until their jacket gets caught on the gate. Emma realizes that the figure is a boy her age. When she questions him, he does not speak. Freeing himself, he races off. Immediately, the Conductor’s song begins behind her, but no one is there. The singing moves toward the Thicket, a forbidden part of the graveyard. Summoning courage, Emma proceeds toward a path of shiny blue stars leading to a grave. Then, she hears footsteps. As she moves forward, someone grabs her, but it’s Granny Blue, demanding an explanation. After Emma mumbles an excuse, Blue orders her to go back to bed. Inside, Emma vows to be extraordinary. That night, she has her Destiny Dream. In it, she stands amid blue flowers and sees an old key nesting on a clump of daisies, red roses, and violets.
Chapters 1-5 Analysis
Both flowers and the presence of ghosts infuse enchantment into the world of the novel, creating a milieu of magical realism. Many flowers in Blackbird Hollow are otherworldly, and some “bloom through the snow,” while “daisies are blooming on the rooftops” (14). Rooftops and snow are unlikely places for flowers to grow, as both locations lack conditions for a plant to flourish. Yet Emma shares these details as facts, suggesting that the occurrences are not rare but typical and that magic is common in Blackbird Hollow. Furthermore, Keeping Susans are blooms used to preserve things for centuries, like the Book of Days. Also, when Emma ventures into the Thicket, blossoms light up like stars, directing her attention to a grave. Both types of flowers seem otherworldly and extraordinary. Like the flowers’ presence in the narrative, ghosts are also an accepted occurrence. From the outset, supernatural beings, even when not visible, play a role in Emma’s journey to find herself and save the cafe. She hears ghostly singing only after she musically declares her purity of heart, and she notes, “My neck prickled as I turned, slowly, and held the flashlight out over the graves. Nobody was there […] The song was moving, somehow […] like the song was calling to me” (54). The beckoning call of a song is a common mechanism of enchantment in other tales, dating back to Homer’s Odyssey and the sirens luring Odysseus’ sailors to their deaths. Emma’s experience could be explained if someone were hiding and moving, but her visceral reaction involving prickling in her neck, which she associates with the touch of a ghost, implies a supernatural presence. This blurring of the lines between magic and reality adds to the extraordinary nature of Emma’s destiny.
Learning about the Wildflowers leads Emma to discover that she has the strength to accomplish hard things, developing the theme of Destiny’s Role in Self-Discovery. Even before she has her dream, she knows that she is fated to do something extraordinary because of her family legacy. After venturing into the graveyard at night, Emma reflects, “I wanted to run through the unknown again. There was a feeling I had out there, where my fear melted into something better. Something like courage” (57). That night, she discovers that she is capable of overcoming fear, which is implied when she claims that it melts into something akin to bravery. However, she does not just express pride in feeling this way but notes that she longs to experience it again. This desire suggests that her courage in the cemetery was not a fluke but a part of who she is. Emma links her identity to destiny when she says, “Maybe all Wildflowers feel that way. I knew I had it in me then; I could be—I would be—extraordinary” (57). She is expected to continue the family legacy by receiving her destiny in a dream and accomplishing great things. It is this moment when she understands her capabilities, as she “ha[s] it in” her to be extraordinary. Learning about her destiny has empowered Emma to discover her strengths.
Inextricably linked to her self-discovery is the theme of The Impact of Family Legacy, as being a Wildflower simultaneously holds thrilling expectations and significant pressure, and it links the women together. When Emma’s mom first explained their family history, she summed up the legacy in the Book of Days: “Because no matter how difficult the circumstance, and no matter where the wind carried them, they bloomed, bold and bright” (31). This history is portrayed as exciting to be a part of, as they all shine and “bloom” in their own ways, which suggests that Emma will also do the same. However, this legacy is also laden with pressure to live up to lofty expectations. On Emma’s 10th birthday, when her mother explains that she, too, is a Wildflower, the girl “swallowed down the lump of fear in [her] throat” (32). This lump of fear was a physical manifestation of the pressure that Emma felt to uphold this tradition. Despite this burden, there is also a positive impact of this legacy in that it always will connect Emma to her mother: “If we’re ever apart for a little while, you and me, I want you to know we’re connected that way. […] We have our destiny. You and me—we’re Wildflowers” (33). Her mother’s words foreshadowed her imminent death and Emma’s subsequent sadness. By explaining the family legacy, she was not just revealing the girl’s future but also providing a means to work through the grief that she would soon feel. Just like Emma’s link to the centuries of women in her family through the Book of Days, she will also have a perpetual bond with her mother.
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