Review_CHILDREN’S
78 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ APRIL 6, 2020
continued from p. 75
one week without making three mistakes,
they’re told, they can stay with the circus
permanently. Lucy desperately wants to
help care for the circus’s elephants, but it’s
deemed too dangerous unless she speaks.
Choldenko (the Tales from Alcatraz series)
includes lively details about circus life in
the 1930s as well as vividly wrought char-
acters, such as prickly Bald Doris and kind-
hearted Jabo. Choldenko intersperses letters
from Lucy’s sister that reveal the orphan-
age’s sinister attempts to keep Lucy from
her family, adding a welcome layer of
mystery to the story. With Lucy’s
undaunted determination and boundless
compassion, this uplifting tale of hope,
survival, and belonging has all the ingredi-
ents to become a beloved middle grade
book. Ages 8–12. Agent: Elizabeth Harding,
Curtis Brown. (May)Quintessence
Jess Redman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
$16.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-374-30976-3
A girl suffering panic attacks after her
family moves to a new town finds purpose
when she’s lent a special telescope that
allows her to witness a star falling to Earth
in child form. To help the Starling recover
its power and return home, 12-year-old
Alma Lucas and her new friends, including
supersmart but socially awkward Hugo
and multitalented, popular Shirin, must
collect and unite pristine samples of the
four classical elements—earth, air, fire, and
water—from locations around the town of
Four Points. But with a bully on their tail,
the Starling proving difficult to catch, and
Alma’s episodes increasing, this quest
won’t be easy. Mixing modern science and
alchemical traditions, Redman (The
Miraculous) delivers a fanciful adventure
with a rich emotional core and a fairy tale
flair. An emphasis on Alma’s mental health
and circular thought patterns proves an
effective complement to the story’s magical
elements, as her new endeavor and friends
grant her the resilience to navigate her
needs. Reminiscent of Neil Gaiman’s
Stardust, this is a clever, entertaining story
with its own distinct identity. Ages 8–12.
Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties. (May)Mia Marcotte and the Robot
Jeanne Wald, illus. by Saliha Caliskan. Jeanne
Wald, $15.99 (140p) ISBN 978-2-9568573-2-7
Wald’s illustrated chapter book debuthe surreptitiously flies alone to Singapore to
speak with his father about some long-per-
colating questions. As she did in Pie in the
Sky, Lai deftly mines the angst and conun-
drums of life as a dual-cultural adolescent
fording the turbulent torrents of peer and
family relationships. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jim
McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (May)★ The One and Only Bob
Katherine Applegate, illus. by Patricia Castelao.
HarperCollins, $18.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-06-
299131-7
With this stellar sequel to her Newbery
Award–winning The One and Only Ivan,
Applegate sounds precisely balanced notes
of genuine humor and heart-tugging ten-
derness through the voice of Ivan’s best
friend, Chihuahua mutt Bob. Rescued by
a loving family, former stray Bob regularly
visits Ivan, who now lives in a wildlife sanc-
tuary along with elephant Ruby. Tough-
talking Bob, who was thrown out of a car
with his siblings as a pup, acknowledges,
albeit a bit defensively, that pampered
domesticated life suits him: “So what if I’ve
gotten a little spoiled? A tad soft around
the edges?” Ricocheting between entertain-
ment and poignancy, the dog’s musings on
his past and present give way to an urgent
chronicle of survival after a hurricane
ravages Ivan and Ruby’s sanctuary while
Bob is visiting. Applegate deepens the
suspense (while, ingeniously, amplifying
the humor) with the appearance of Bob’s
long-lost sister. The novel’s fluid meshing
of loyalty, forgiveness, and trust will leave
readers hoping that the author has more
one-and-only stories to tell. Final illustra-
tions not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. (May)Orphan Eleven
Gennifer Choldenko. Random/Lamb, $16.99
(320p) ISBN 978-0-385-74255-9
Left at the Home for Friendless Children
five years ago, 11-year-old Lucy Sauve, once
a singer with a beautiful voice, has been
relentlessly tormented by the head matron
and music teacher until developing selec-
tive mutism. While working outside one
spring day in 1939, Lucy escapes, hoping
to make her way to Chicago and her older
sister, Dilly. She’s joined by three other
orphans, and the four hitchhike to that city,
where they are connected with Jabo, a dwarf
and the aspiring ringmaster of Sacchi’s
Circus. If they secure an apprenticeship inLilli a quest. They must find and defeat
Atreus within three days, “no save points.
No do-overs,” and any game-side fatality
will result in their deaths. Luckily, they
have the assistance of an AI guide named
Yano, and Ikumi, an experienced fellow
player, to compensate when Ian discovers
that his in-game experiences haven’t pre-
pared him for the more physical demands
of the setting. With this adventure,
Mancusi (Geeks and the Holy Grail) employs
common gaming tropes, interweaving
fantasy and mundane elements to create a
world that feels familiar and yet enjoyably
dangerous. The concepts—rogue AIs,
theme parks gone haywire—may be well
visited, but Mancusi successfully delivers a
sense of urgency to her entertaining tale.
Ages 8–12. Agent: Mandy Hubbard, Emerald
City Literary. (May)Fly on the Wall
Remy Lai. Holt, $16.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-250-
31411-6
Henry Khoo chronicles his life quanda-
ries in this fresh, idiosyncratic story that
meshes prose and graphic novel formats.
The 12-year-old Australian resident feels
suffocated and sometimes humiliated by his
overprotective mother and older sister, and
is convinced that his father in Singapore,
with whom he shares only perfunctory
phone conversa-
tions, doesn’t
like him. At
school, Henry’s
best and only
friend suddenly
adopts a new
passel of pals,
leaving him
alone, resentful,
and ready to
retaliate. The
multistranded plot unfolds in Henry’s note-
book, brimming with hyperbolic line draw-
ings that are charged with imagination,
emotion, and humor. (He portrays his
mother and sister as anthropomorphized
helicopters hovering overhead, while a
flattened Henry exclaims, “You’ve turned
me into a helipad!”) The disgruntled boy
makes some uncharacteristically bold, even
reckless, moves. He creates the anonymous
blog Fly on the Wall (the name reflects his
feeling of invisibility), which features
mean-spirited cartoons of classmates, andReview_CHILDREN’S