WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 75Review_CHILDREN’S
day, young neighbors Sam and Katie set
out to learn more about the stray and, they
hope, persuade their parents to let them
keep it. After seeing their neighbors treat
the dog badly—the grumpy, gardening
Wilson sisters shoo it away from their
flower beds, and mean kids Michael and
Madison Tracey throw rocks at it—the
friends are eager to help. But they feel
guilty after making their own inconsid-
erate choice, painting a blue daisy on the
pup’s back, and worry about their chances
of winning the dog’s affection. Alternating
chapters in differing styles, poetry for Sam
and prose for Katie, help to convey how
each character communicates; Sam seems
restrained alongside Katie’s constant clip.
Apologies offer weight in this slim
volume by Frost (Applesauce Weather), and
result in a more generous view of neigh-
bors and a realization that even kind
people can make mistakes. Black-and-
white illustrations by Shepperson (Can I
Just Take a Nap?) portray the neighbor-
hood and its mostly white inhabitants;
two accompanying recipes, inspired by a
baking neighbor, conclude. Ages 7–10.
Agent: Ginger Knowlton, Curtis Brown.
(Mar.)
★ Efrén Divided
Ernesto Cisneros. HarperCollins, $16.99
(272p) ISBN 978-0-06-288168-7
As affecting as it is timely, Cisneros’s
debut depicts how draconian U.S. immi-
gration policies rip through one Southern
California family. At the novel’s start, the
Nava family lives a hardworking, loving
existence—American-born Efrén, the
seventh-grade narrator, is mostly concerned
with the upcoming school election. But
when his undocumented mother is
deported after an ICE raid one afternoon,
Efrén must care for his five-year-old siblings,
one of whom has a learning disability, while
his father works
extra hours for
funds to bring
his mother back
from Mexico.
Cisneros tells
this urgent story
with focus and
heart-wrenching
realism, espe-
cially con-
cerning the
ripple effects of family separation, not just
at the border but also among those in the
U.S. Cisneros layers in stories of other
deportees, underlining the importance
of taking part in change as he portrays a
community rallying around its most
vulnerable members. (Efrén’s burnt-out
history teacher shares cautionary tales of
past exclusionary practices via Martin
Niemöller’s “First they came for the
socialists” poem.) If Efrén seems to shoulder
burdens beyond his years with alarming
maturity, he mirrors many children in this
country who are forced to grow up fast.
Ages 8–12. Agent: Deborah Warren, East
West Literary. (Mar.)If We Were Giants
Dave Matthews and Clete Barrett Smith.
Disney-Hyperion, $16.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-
4847-7871-5
The importance of community and
collaboration underlies this didactic, fast-
paced adventure, by musician Matthews
and children’s author Smith (Mr. 60%),
about a 14-year-old girl with repressed
trauma. Part one finds 10-year-old Kirra
living with her family in bustling Zedu,
hidden within a dormant volcano. As
Helper to the Storyteller, Kirra is allowed
to go Outside, where her father protects
Zedu by spreading tales of volcanic danger
to other villages. A well-intentioned
decision by Kirra, however, leads to the
village’s violent destruction by ruthless
invaders called Takers. Four years later,
Kirra, the only survivor, quietly lives
among the peacefully coexisting but soli-
tary Tree Folk. When the Takers return and
threaten her new home, Kirra must find
the strength to face her past and rally the
treetop dwellers to collective action,
working with friends to design and deploy
fearsome, cleverly engineered wooden
giants. An ambiguous ending with loose
ends perhaps hints at a sequel, but readers
will appreciate the triumphant growth of
Kirra and her adoptive community, who
choose to embrace the potential and pain
of connection. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)Things You Can’t Say
Jenn Bishop. Aladdin, $17.99 (336p) ISBN 978-
1-5344-4097-5
The children’s room in the library is
12-year-old Drew’s happy place, where he
does puppet shows for younger kidswithout any peers around to make fun—
until new kid Audrey, also 12, shows up
and takes over the room. If that’s not
enough to ruin his summer, his best
friend, Felipe, has grown distant, and
Phil, an old friend of Drew’s mother,
suddenly arrives for a visit. It’s been three
years since Drew’s father committed
suicide, and Phil’s arrival raises a lot of
questions. Drew worries that he’s headed
in the same direction as his father, who
seemed happy until his death, and he
wonders if Phil could be his real father (he
certainly knows a lot about Drew’s family).
As Audrey and Drew become friendly, she
helps him find information, but knowing
more doesn’t make anything less confusing.
In a story about the aftermath of parental
suicide, former children’s librarian Bishop
(14 Hollow Road) tells a touching and
believable story about the ways worries feed
on each other, the difference that honesty
makes to kids, and how much emotional
growth a child Drew’s age can experience
in just a few weeks. Ages 8–12. Agent:
Katie Grimm, Don Congdon Assoc. (Mar.)Twilight Hauntings
(Enchanter’s Child #1)
Angie Sage. HarperCollins/Tegen, $16.99
(368p) ISBN 978-0-06-287514-3
In this fast-paced fantasy, first in a
duology, Sage (the Septimus Heap series)
weaves an engaging tale of constant danger
and capricious magic. When Alex, 11, an
Enchanter, is betrayed by her foster sister
for the crime of possessing Enchanted cards,
she’s forced to flee Luma for her life with
foster brother Louie in tow. Now they must
survive in a land where Enchanters and
their works are illegal, and terrifying crea-
tures called Hauntings hunt them at every
turn. Determined to fight back against the
system that imprisoned her birth parents,
Alex goes in search of clues to her identity.
Meanwhile, Danny Dark, a young man
responsible for hunting down Enchanters,
has a change of heart and partners with the
King’s former Enchanter, who’s also deter-
mined to stop this persecution. Sage’s world
is inventive and weird, featuring creatures
such as the enormous Enchanter-hunting
Hawke and the talkative pokkle (a parrot/
gecko mix). Following multiple viewpoints,
including those of Alex, Danny, and a goat
named Howard, the overlapping, inter-
weaving narrative allows for a panoramic