WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 67Review_CHILDREN’S
year,” in rhythmic, candid descriptions of
Haiti’s days of slavery and then successful
revolution (“to take back what’s theirs”).
The dynamically detailed mixed-media
artwork swirls with motion, feeling, and
references to Haitian culture, and Alcántara
(The Field) creates memorable characters
in Ti Gran and Belle. Complete with a
soup recipe and a personal note from
Charles (Like Vanessa) honoring her family
and Haitian history, this vibrant title is
bound to teach, empower, and rumble the
bellies of its readers. Ages 5–9. (Dec.)
Fiction
The Best of Iggy
Annie Barrows, illus. by Sam Ricks. Putnam,
$13.99 (144p) ISBN 978-1-9848-1330-5
“All of us do things we wish we hadn’t
done” begins this lively illustrated series
opener about Iggy Frangi, a mischievous,
good-hearted nine-year-old who frequently
lands himself in trouble and only some-
times regrets it. The omniscient narrator
describes Iggy’s world with a dry tone (“He
has to stay in his room until dinnertime.
It’s two thirty in the afternoon”), detailing
the events—described as “extenuating cir-
cumstances”—that have contributed to
Iggy’s ill-advised actions. Short chapters
tell the story of three occurrences: Iggy
inadvertently goading Jeremy Greerson
into jumping off the roof onto a trampoline,
raiding the family medicine cabinet for an
overzealous prank, and racing classroom
desks toward an unsuspecting fourth-grade
teacher. Of the three, the last inspires
regret and thoughtful introspection. With
Iggy, Barrows (the Ivy and Bean series) has
created a realistic kid—passionate, funny,
and sometimes misguided—whom readers
will surely root for as he gains awareness
of the relationship between choices and
consequences. Black-and-white illustra-
tions by Ricks highlight Iggy’s antic
nature. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Liza
Dawson, Liza Dawson Assoc. Illustrator’s
agent: Minju Chang, BookStop Literary. (Jan.)
Josie Bloom and the Emergency
of Life
Susan Hill Long. S&S/Wiseman, $17.99
(288p) ISBN 978-1-5344-4427-0
In Long’s (The Magic Mirror) novel set
in small-town Maine, it’s 1977, and
intrepid sixth grader Josie Bloom is doing
her best to make ends meet. The grandfa-
ther with whom she lives following her
single mother’s death has been misplacing
money and forgetting to pay bills, and he
blurts non sequiturs when questioned.
After discovering an unpaid mortgage bill,
Josie enlists the aid of her best friend
Elwyn “Winky” Wheaton, who is visually
impaired due to Stargardt disease, to help
her raise the money. The inventive duo
tries several get-rich-quick schemes with
hilariously unfortunate results (their sole
yard-work customer pays them to never
clean his yard again). The plot picks up
when Josie and baseball-obsessed Winky
become entangled with recently disgraced
player Joe Viola, whose continued slump
is blamed on Josie having touched his
glove. Josie’s first-person narration is
humorous (facts from Ripley’s Believe It or
Not! inform many of her brainstorms) and
sometimes poignant (as when a memory
of her mother crops up); Long nails the
voice of a kid trying as hard as she can to
tackle adult problems on her own when
the well-meaning adults in her life fall
short. Ages 8–12. (Jan.)The Peacock Detectives
Carly Nugent. HarperCollins, $16.99 (288p)
ISBN 978-0-06-289670-4
“Eleven-turning-twelve years old”
Cassie narrates this story, set in small-town
Australia. Her father, an English teacher
who always wanted to be a writer, teaches
Cassie many writing tips (“be good at
details,” include an “Inciting Incident”)
that she shares in the text. He also named
the observant girl a “Peacock Detective”
when noting details helped her to track
down the neighbor’s escaped peacocks,
William Shakespeare and Virginia. Cassie
plans for her story to be about the latest
peacock escape, but then her dad begins
having more “Those Days”—depressive
episodes—something Cassie understands
because she sometimes has them, too.
Though Cassie tries to avoid seeing the
problems facing her family, she employs
her observational prowess when her mother
moves out, mean girl Rhea keeps telling
Cassie her dad is “crazy,” and a secret about
her beloved grandfather is revealed. This
quietly powerful journey deals honestly
with the impact of depression and such
social issues as gun violence in the U.S.Debut author Nugent sensitively portrays
Cassie’s struggles with family and friends
as she grows to see that true bonds can be
both hard won and well worth the effort.
Ages 8–12. (Jan.)★ Sisterland
Salla Simukka, trans. from the Finnish by
Owen F. Witesman. Crown, $16.99 (208p)
ISBN 978-1-52471-878-7
In epigraphs from classic fairy tales,
Finnish author Simukka (As Red as Blood)
acknowledges the influences for this
modern story, which feels both fresh and
timeless. Alice
is 11 years old,
an age that feels
“like crawling
under the rose-
bush where
you’d always
hidden as a
child, but now
suddenly the
roses had grown
thorns,” and she
longs for adventure and a best friend. She
gets both when she follows a shapeshifting
dragonfly from her snowy homeland to
Sisterland, a realm of wind fairies, dragons,
and Marissa, the human travel companion
she’s always wanted. The eerie beauty of
Sisterland has an anesthetizing effect on
the girls, but they sense their homes and
families are in jeopardy. Their journey
takes them to Queen Lili, whose state-
ments about human suffering might be
commentary on an exploitative global
economy: “That’s a small price to pay for
Sisterland having an eternal summer.... I’m
not going to allow the snow troubles of
some distant world... concern me.” But
Simukka is primarily interested in the
intensity of young female friendships and
the ways in which they wax and wane.
While a few readers may wish for longer
pauses in this Odyssey-paced journey, most
will delight in the wondrous details and
flexible metaphors. Ages 8–12. (Dec.)The Mystwick School of Musicraft
Jessica Khoury, illus. by Federica Frenna.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16.99 (368p)
ISBN 978-1-328-62563-2
In this enjoyable middle grade fantasy,
a young woman achieves her dream of
enrollment in a prestigious school wherecontinued from p. 65
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