And just in time, along comes Miss Lucy B. Parker.

Charming, flawed, sympathetic main character? Check. Lighthearted writing that nevertheless has some substance behind it? Check. Squeaky clean without feeling babyish? Check. Available in paperback? Check.

Lucy B. Parker sends emails to tv host Dr. Maude (presumably a Dr. Phil-esque advice giver) about the trials and travails of her sixth grade life, and the emails are scattered throughout the tale of same. As if it wasn’t hard enough starting sixth grade without her two BFFs, who friend-dumped her – on the phone – from the mall – right before school started! – her mother is now dating the father of the most famous young actress/singer on the planet (think Miley Cyrus early in the Hannah Montana years). Lucy’s been going through one embarrassing time after another and now she’s facing life as the far less attractive, appealing and talented stepsister of the most famous girl on the planet. How much worse can her life get?

This novel is charming as all get out and a complete no-brainer handsell. I’m predicting it will be a summer bestseller for me.  Over the last couple of years I have very much enjoyed selling Robin Palmer’s fairy-tale based contemporary YA novels, which I have happily been selling to tweens due to their lack of very older content. Now it’s lovely to see Ms. Palmer turning her hand to novels truly aimed at the tween market, which just seems to be exploding. I love having books that I can hand to anyone without a second thought – reader, mom, grandmother, aunt, birthday gift giver. I love having paperback original series. I love tweeniness.

I can’t wait for Lucy’s next adventure!

I can tell you a little bit about one book I love and can’t wait for, though, because they picked my blurb for it for the Spring Kids’ Indie Next List:

Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve
(Dial Books for Young Readers, $16.99, 9780803733626)
“Polly Peabody lives on a magical rhubarb farm where diamonds grow and rain falls on a schedule. But when the rain stops falling, the plants begin to wither and the tourists stop coming. Polly’s belief in the magic has always been unwavering — is it enough to bring the farm (and her shaken family) back to life? The only thing more magical than the rhubarb farm itself? This book.” –Melissa Posten, Pudd’nhead Books, Webster Groves, MO

I was so excited to see it included – I LOVE THIS BOOK and cannot wait to sell it. See the preview of the whole list here!

(Be back soon, I promise.)

These reviews are also going to be pretty short.

There will also be hardly any nonfiction, because I sell very few nonfiction picture books in the shop, so I haven’t had the same experience with those as I have with the fiction this year.

1. OTIS by Loren Long

2. THE SLEEPY LITTLE ALPHABET by Judy Sierra; illustrations by Melissa Sweet

3. THE CIRCUS SHIP by Chris Van Dusen

4. ARE YOU A HORSE? by Andy Rash
This book has one joke, but it’s a good one (which I will not reveal, because it’s on the last page). Roy is given a saddle for his birthday, and he has never seen one before (which is a little odd considering he’s basically dressed like a cowboy). Fortunately said saddle comes with instructions: 1. Find a horse. 2. Enjoy the ride. So Roy goes off looking for a horse, working his way through many different living creatures in the process (and learning something from each one). I LOVE Rash’s art, too. This one’s a favorite in my house as well as in the shop.

5. THE LION AND THE MOUSE by Jerry Pinkney
I am assuming that you have all seen this magnificent, beautiful achievement by one of the finest children’s book illustrators to ever walk the earth. If this doesn’t (finally, belatedly) earn him the Caldecott Medal he has long deserved, I suspect I will not be the only unhappy reviewer/reader/blogger/bookseller out there.

6. THE CURIOUS GARDEN by Peter Brown
A quietly lovely book about a little boy who discovers a small patch of green on top of the railroad tracks in the dingy, brown place where he lives. He begins to tend to the green, eventually growing a garden, which inspires others to grow their own. Slowly, across the city, the gardens spread. With its basic message of “act locally,” this book is very close to my heart.

7. ALL THE WORLD by Liz Garton Scanlon; illustrations by Marla Frazee
This is such a beautiful book. My 3 year old daughter wasn’t enraptured by it, but I think it works best either with someone younger (who is listening more to the cadence than the story) or someone older (and a little more capable of conscious thought about the world at large). This is the kind of book I often sell to a grandparent – often grandparents come in asking me for “something new and beautiful” that might be saved forever. This is definitely that book. This is also the perfect book to give your picture book-loving adult friend or relative.

8. 14 COWS FOR AMERICA by Carmen Agra Deedy; illustrations by Thomas Gonzalez
This book is based on the true story of a Masaai man named Kimeli who returned to his Kenyan village after 9/11, bringing with him the story of what happened that day. The villagers are so moved by the story and wonder what they can do for the people of the US. Kimeli offers his prize cow – a generous, symbolic gift as to the Masaai, the “cow is life.” In the end, fourteen cows are given as a gift. This is one of those stories that we don’t often hear about, making it the perfect story to be turned into a picture book. “No nation is so powerful it cannot be wounded, nor a people so small they cannot offer mighty comfort.”

9. THE CHRISTMAS MAGIC by Lauren Thompson; illustrations by Jon Muth
Jon Muth’s illustrations alone are enough to get just about any book into one of my “best of” lists. When you pair them with Lauren Thompson’s delicate story, this book becomes my favorite “pretty” Christmas book of the last…well, several years, at least. Santa Claus (dressed all in midnight blue in a lovely variation on what has become tradition) is preparing for the arrival of the Christmas magic, and the book takes you step by step with him through everything that leads up to Christmas Eve. He selects a toy for each child, because he knows what each wants most, and loves them all (there’s no “good list” and “bad list” here). He grooms the reindeer, and polishes the sled, and carefully, quietly, lovingly welcomes in the magic of the season as he always has and always will. This got added to my personal Christmas book collection immediately.

10. PRINCESS BESS GETS DRESSED by Margery Cuyler; illustrations by Heather Maione.
There is always a need for a sparkly pink princess book, but I truly cannot abide selling them if the sparkly pinkness masks a mediocre story. Not the case here – this is delightful, and my customers agreed with me. Princess Bess has a day filled with obligations, and must change her clothes for each one. Finally at the end of the day she is free to retire to her room, where she strips off her finery and dances around the room in her favorite outfit of all – a set of simple cotton underwear. The rhymes are good, the art is good, and the extensive fashion display is sure to please fans of FANCY NANCY as well as little girls who just love dressing up.

11. LLAMA LLAMA MISSES MAMA by Anna Dewdney
I am a big fan of the LLAMA LLAMA books, both as a bookseller and as a mother. This one was especially timely for me as my daughter started preschool this past fall, and that’s what this book is about. We got a lot of mileage out of “Don’t forget when day is through, she will come right back to you!” which is what the teacher tells Little Llama when he gets sad and misses his mama. Also, it’s just fun to say “llama” over and over and over and over again.

12. RHYMING DUST BUNNIES and HERE COMES THE BIG, MEAN DUST BUNNY! by Jan Thomas
I think you either think Jan Thomas’s books are hilarious, or not. There’s no in-between. I am definitely in the former category. (A BIRTHDAY FOR COW is so beloved in our house that every family member can be heard yelling “A TURNIP!!” occasionally.) I LOVE the dust bunnies. In the first book, Ed, Ned and Ted, the dust bunnies, rhyme all the time: “What rhymes with car?” “Far!” “Jar!” “Tar!” “Look!” says their friend Bob. As the others try to educate Bob on proper rhyming technique, it becomes apparent that Bob is trying to deliver a message to the others. Will they listen before it’s too late? The second book has the dust bunnies attempting to placate (and, eventually, befriend) the big, mean dust bunny they’ve encountered.

The illustrations might have you thinking that these books are best for younger toddlers, but the humor’s more sophisticated than that. Molly liked hearing A BIRTHDAY FOR COW when she was 2 1/2, but now that she’s a little past three, she truly finds it funny.

13. FELICITY FLOO VISITS THE ZOO by E.S. Redmond
Redmond tells the tale of little Felicity Floo, who infects an entire zoo full of animals because she uses her hand to wipe her runny nose rather than a tissue, and for some reason (you must suspend your disbelief here), you are allowed to pet every single animal in this zoo. She leaves teeny tiny little green handprints all over the animals, and begins an epidemic so large they name it after her. The whimsical Edward Gorey-esque illustrations fit the story perfectly, and, of course, it sends a very timely message in a brand new way.

14. THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Clement C. Moore;  illustrations by Rachel Isadora
Isadora pairs her awesome African-inspired art (LOVE Santa’s white dreadlocks) with Moore’s classic poem to create yet another book of hers that had to go on my home shelf immediately. Bonus: as I said to one of my favorite customers (who shares my sarcastic sense of humor): “I didn’t know that people of color celebrate Christmas too!” (This customer is African-American and we often discuss the dearth of books for children that aren’t about slavery or civil rights or athletes or drugs.) Never is the whitewashing of children’s publishing more evident than when the Christmas books start to arrive. I’d like to think that many more will follow this, but history has me rolling my eyes at the very idea.

15. NEVER SMILE AT A MONKEY by Steve Jenkins
This book has the creepiest back cover of any picture book, ever. Jenkins uses his trademark paper collage art to instruct the reader about what not to do should you encounter certain animals. Since he often has more than one book published per year, I feel like Jenkins must have a sort of picture of Dorian Gray, asleep, in his attic – how else could he make so much art out of teeny tiny pieces of paper? I have never been less than impressed with his art, and the information contained within the books is always top-notch as well. This book is no different and will certainly please animal lovers, especially those who have a taste for the slightly scarier side of nature.

16. DINOTRUX by Chris Gall
Honestly, this idea is so obvious that I can’t believe no one ever thought of it before, but that’s also what makes it brilliant. This imagines that before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, there were Dinotrux! The Dumplodocus…the Semisaur…the Blacktopadon. So simple, so clever, so funny. Absolutely fantastic, bold art. Great cover. This was on many, many in-store wish lists this past holiday season, and I love the way little boys’ eyes light up when they see it.  Dads are also usually pretty gleeful when they pick it up, like the little boy inside of them can’t wait to turn the pages. Sometimes a book is pure fun to sell and this book has been one of those for me.

And…that’s it! I am sure I forgot something, and if I remember what it is, I will add it to this post another time. Let me know if I seem to have missed something that you think is amazing!

These are in no particular order, and if I reviewed the book here earlier in the year, I’ll link to the review. And I probably won’t do more than two or three per post. Also: I’ve been asked to do some holiday gift recommendations, and the specific requests will be fulfilled in other posts, but I’ll put a little note at the end of each favorite to tell you who I think might like that book best.

Today: two picture books.

1. THE SLEEPY LITTLE ALPHABET by Judy Sierra, illustrations by Melissa Sweet.

This has been a huge hit in our house since the moment of publication as well as being a big success for me at work. The premise is that it’s time for all the little letters to be tucked into their beds, but a number of them aren’t quite ready. By the end of the book, though, they’re all snoring Z Z Zs. I know this entire book by heart, and I never get tired of reading it:

It’s sleepytime in Alphabet Town!
As moms and dads run round and round
the little letters skitter-skatter
helter-skelter. What’s the matter?

Uh-oh! A is wide awake!
And B still has a bath to take…

One by one they take us through the steps most kids go through at bedtime…F has got the fidgity wiggles; M is mopey; N is naughty; X expects a great big hug. And at the end of the book, they’re all tucked in to their own little beds with something that begins with their letter either tucked in with them or sitting on a nightstand beside them or something (L has a lamp; T has a teddy bear etc). This is an utterly charming read with lots to see in each lively picture.

We have been reading this to Molly since she was about 2 1/2 and she’s a little over 3 now and still loves it. I think it’s good for anyone from 2-4, and it also makes a great gift for new parents building a collection. Order THE SLEEPY LITTLE ALPHABET from an independent bookstore!

2. OTIS by Loren Long

Mr. Long wrote this as a sort of homage to books like MIKE MULLIGAN AND THE STEAM SHOVEL, and the influence and respect for Virginia Lee Burton and others like her are all over this book. Someday, I believe, OTIS will be remembered just as fondly as the books that inspired it.

Otis is a hardworking, joyful little red tractor who likes both his work and his playtime. He has a heart as big as the farm he lives on, which helps him to soothe a scared little calf to sleep with his gentle puff putt puttedly chuff. One day, however, the farmer shows up with a brand new big yellow tractor and Otis is put out to pasture. It will take a very bad day for the farmer to realize just how valuable Otis is (which of course he does).

I was lucky enough to be at an MBA breakfast where Mr. Long explained the origin of this book and showed slides of the art as it went through various color schemes. I had him sign my copy for Molly, and it has been a favorite in our house ever since. We can all be heard letting out the occasional putt puff puttedy chuff. It’s been just as big a hit at the store, too, appealing to a wide range of customers.

OTIS works for anyone who loves a good story. Molly has never shown any like for modes of transportation before; the story is the hook here rather than the fact that Otis is a tractor. She had just turned 3 when we started reading this. It’s long-ish, so this is good for a 3 who likes a long story, and also for 4s and 5s primarily. Order OTIS from an independent bookstore!

Order THE CIRCUS SHIP from an independent bookstore!

(Well, librarians and other teachers listen up too.)

Here’s that sweet little book that comes along once or twice a year and works its way into the hearts of its readers. That book that spreads itself out like the coziest of handknit blankets and wraps itself around you while you read it. That book that you open in front of a roomful of girls (or in front of your daughter, or granddaughter, or the little girl you babysit) and when you are done with the chapter you are reading, they beg you to read just a little more.

Sophie (11), Anna (9) and Trudie (7) live with their parents in an apartment on the Lower East Side in New York City. They live above the family business, Breittlemann’s Doll Repair. Bisque and china dolls are very expensive, so the girls don’t have any of their own, but they are allowed to play with the dolls that are waiting to be repaired by their papa. There are three dolls that have been waiting longer than most, unclaimed, and the girls have come to think of the dolls as “theirs.”

Anna is our narrator, and her story is tinged with the unique frustrations and tribulations of the middle child:

I listen to their footsteps as they go, but I don’t follow them right away. I want to be alone down here for a little bit. Sometimes it’s hard being a middle sister, and I just need to be by myself. Sophie is smart and pretty and good at so many things; Trudie (her real name is Gertrude, though we never call her that) is little and cute and cries to get her way. I’m just the one sort of stuffed in between–at nine I’m not old enough to do some things, like light the kitchen stove, but too old to do others, like snuggle in Mama and Papa’s bed on a cold morning.

Despite her feelings, though, and the family’s relative poverty, theirs is a happy life. It is a loving family, and the girls love what their parents do, so they are happy to chip in with shop chores. School is also a source of happiness, as is their friendly Jewish neighborhood.  And, of course, the time they are allotted to play with “their” special dolls is treasured. Anna often tells her private troubles to Bernadette Louise (the name she has given to “her” doll). The year passes, and is told in charming fashion.

On August 2nd, however, everything changes: Germany declares war on Russia. Although the war has not yet touched the United States, it begins to immediately affect Anna’s family: the parts that Papa uses to fix the dolls come from Germany. Because Germany has declared war on Russia, the US has stopped trading with them. No more doll parts. No doll parts, no work for the doll repair shop.

The family comes up with some creative ways to survive the war, and Anna and her sisters grow through the experience. “Their” special dolls play an important part in both their growth and the story, as McDonough brings us beautifully to a satisfying and hopeful ending.

The reader gets a very nice portrayal of the 1930’s Lower East Side and the experience of being Jewish at that time, in that neighborhood. It’s not as big a part of the story  as it is in ALL-OF-A-KIND FAMILY, but it’s done in a very matter of fact way that I always appreciate. There’s a lovely family relationship here, and the sibling rivalries, troubles and joys ring true. Most of all, we see Anna learn to be resourceful in some completely normal ways, which is refreshing. She’s not super gifted – she’s not a prodigy – but she’s clever and creative in a way that comes from love for her family and a true desire to contribute in a difficult time. She’s an excellent example for children without being obnoxious about it.

I think this book will have a long life.

(I also think it will sell better in paperback – this is one of those books that I wish had simultaneous hard and softcover print runs. Especially in this economy, it can be hard to get parents to spring for a $14.99 hardcover that’s 116 pages long.)

There are times I read books and I want to slap myself upside the head and say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”  There are also times I read books and I think to myself, “I would never have come up with that in a million years.”  INCARCERON is one of the latter.  The sheer originality of concept in this novel is breathtaking, and I’m going to have to be careful with this review so as not to spoil the beauty of it for you.

The story begins with Finn, who lives inside Incarceron.  Incareron is, without a doubt, the most perfect prison concieved; it has no passages in or out, and in its centuries-long history, only one man is rumored to have ever escaped.  Finn clings to the belief that somehow he did not begin his life inside Incarceron like everyone else there, and his intermittent fits of visions give him brief glimpses of another life.  It’s difficult to know what to believe, however, because Incarceron isn’t just a building.  Incaceron is alive, and it determines the fates of the creatures that live within it.  Are his visions real, or are they simply falsehoods, another way that Incarceron tortures him?

Claudia lives in splendor under the watchful, cruel eye of her father, the Warden of Incarceron.  Though she is intrigued by her father’s vocation, she has never seen Incarceron herself.  Quietly defiant of the rules of her house, Claudia spends much of her time with the sickly Jared, a Sapient (think scholar), and they have concocted a scheme to sneak into the Warden’s study in the hopes of understanding what it is exactly that he does.  While their heist works, and Claudia is able to steal a strange key from her father’s desk, the Warden is at work on his own plans, and he has made arrangements for his daughter’s marriage.

Their worlds meet when Finn steals a crystal key in Incarceron, which is an exact match of Claudia’s.  Through the keys, they can hear each other speak, and Claudia discovers through Finn that Incarceron is not the paradise her government told her it is.  She promises to help him escape, but her time is running out, as her impending marriage will essentially seal her within its own kind of prison.  A lovely addition to the main plot are the small boxed quotes that begin each chapter, which are excerpts from songs, poems, and secret documents regarding Incarceron.  My favorites were the legends about Sappique, who is the only prisoner said to have escaped.  INCARCERON is layered like a dark, twisted flower, and as the petals turn back and you come to the secrets at its center, you’ll likely do the same double take I did.  I literally had to go back and reread the sentences at the moment of revelation regarding Incareron itself, because I couldn’t believe what I was reading.  Like all good first novels in a trilogy, INCARCERON can only take us so far, and we now await the next part of the tale, but I am anxious to see where Ms. Fisher takes Finn and Claudia after the conclusion.  Highly recommended for young adult readers of both fantasy and sci-fi, and I believe fans of THE HUNGER GAMES would find much to love here.

Preorder INCARCERON from an independent bookstore!

Nikki Grimes does just that in MAKE WAY FOR DYAMONDE DANIEL.

Dyamonde is in the third grade, and when her parents got divorced, she moved with her mom from their quiet Brooklyn neighborhood to a tiny apartment in Washington Heights. She likes her new neighborhood well enough, but misses her best friend and her bedroom and her school and her dad. Still, Dyamonde’s a fighter, and she’s bursting with the desire to fit in and make a new life for herself. And more than anything else, she wants a new best friend. One right here in her school, who she can sit with and play with and laugh with every day.

Enter Free. New boy. He’s sullen and keeps to himself. When Dyamonde invites him to sit with her at lunch on his first day, he tells her to leave him alone. She secretly nicknames him “Rude Boy,” but at the same time becomes kind of obsessed by figuring out what his deal is. Why won’t he read out loud in class when Dyamonde’s seen him reading books in the school yard? Why won’t he sit with anyone at lunch? Why does he keep growling at everyone?

And even though Dyamonde projects confidence and Free projects anger, could they be the same deep down inside? Is Free the friend Dyamonde’s been looking for?

I love Dyamonde and her whole little world. I love her spunk and her friendliness and her smarts and her determination. I think she’s a great character to headline a series, and I highly recommend her.

I just wish that all early reader and elementary series like this were published simultaneously in hardcover and paperback. Unless you’re talking about something like Magic Tree House, it is so hard to sell a book like this in hardcover. I understand that libraries and schools need these in hardcover so they don’t fall apart easily, but parents of newish readers are often buying books frequently and are more likely to buy two paperbacks than one hardcover.

I think this issue is especially important because there are a billion inexpensive paperback series out there featuring little white children, and almost none with children of color. Children of color from well-off families are going to be able to get whatever books they want. Children of color from families that are not well-off are going to have to get a paperback book, if they get a new book, and if they want a book with a kid that looks like them on the front there are only going to be a couple of choices.

And I think, too, that children from poverty-stricken homes might just be the kids who need books with faces like theirs more than anyone else. They are the ones whose parents will be working so often and so hard that there won’t be a lot of time at home to read together. They are the ones who might never become readers because the early reader window was missed. I think you have a greater chance of hooking some of these kids if they can look around at a selection of books and see more than a sea of white faces, and if that selection of books is more affordable to them.

(Please don’t think that I am saying that elementary level books featuring children of color should all be published in paperback because all of those kids are poor – if that’s what you’re taking away from this then I’ve stated it badly. I think that elementary books in general should be published in paperback more often than not, and turning disadvantaged children of color into readers is only one of many reasons. It’s a good one, but it’s hardly the only one.)

This book was read as part of the Color Me Brown Book Challenge.

Order this book from an independent bookstore!

This book is going to appeal to kids who like THE WESTING GAME, THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY, THE NAME OF THIS BOOK IS SECRET, SHAKESPEARE’S SECRET, THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY…in other words, this book has some pretty wide-ranging appeal.

The basic plot is this: the owner of a local potato-chip company sets up a puzzle hunt for area school kids, and Winston’s school gets an invite. His principal asks him to head up the school’s team, and he picks his two best friends to be the other participants (a move unappreciated by the math teacher who ultimately becomes the chaperone, as he’d hoped the participants would all be Mathletes). Winston and his team head off to the factory to meet the other teams and set out on the puzzling quest that will end with one school winning fifty thousand dollars. Along the way they’ll have to deal with cheaters, math experts, bad tempers, and a teacher who doesn’t seem to believe that they can win.

The puzzles are sprinkled throughout the book for the reader to solve (answers are in the back). I’m terrible at math and terrible at most puzzles, so I skipped 95% of them. They’re an enhancement to the reading experience, but not central to the plot – I didn’t miss anything by skipping them, as far as I can tell. But for a math or puzzle obsessed kid, the puzzles will only make reading the book that much more awesome.

Winston and his pals are smart and funny, but not dwelling-in-the-basement-geeky in that stereotypical way a lot of smart kids can be portrayed in. In fact, this book does a remarkably good job of not painting any of the math…enthusiasts? as mouthguard-wearing pocket-protector-having nerds. This book actually makes math and puzzles seem…fun. (Just writing that made me feel a little faint – math hasn’t been my friend since 7th grade Algebra I.) I would have loved this book in middle school. I think it’ll be a big hit in its target age range, whether a kid likes math and puzzles or not.

This willy-nilly wander through the stacks doesn’t always pay off – one of the other books I picked up that day is the worst thing I’ve read in at least two years.  But oh my stars, this book was wonderful.  My favourite things in a young adult book (or kids book, for that matter) are realistically portrayed friendships, witty banter, and believable characters, which is why Feeling Sorry for Celia is my favourite young adult book of all time and very close to the top of my favourite book of all time.  (I have a hard time committing to a single favourite book so I have several elaborate divisions by genre in my head.)  My Most Excellent Year is the closest I’ve come to finding another book as pitch-perfect as Celia.  It shares an unusual format with Celia; the book is written in the style of a school assignment for the three main characters – Anthony, aka T.C., Alejandra, and Augie – who are reflecting on their titular most excellent year.  As a result, it’s full of letters, emails, instant message conversations, vignettes, and the scathing theatre reviews that Augie’s mother writes.

None of them are having what you would call uneventful years.  Alejandra is dealing with a new school and attempting to fend off the advances of T.C., who is immediately smitten with Alé.  T.C. is trying to impress Alé while also helping his father with his attempts at wooing T.C.’s guidance counsellor.  Augie’s overwhelming crush on Andy Wexler has led him to the conclusion that he is gay, to the surprise of nobody but himself, and he throws himself into the school talent show in order to distract himself from the startling discoveries he is making both about himself and Andy.

The reaction to Augie’s sexuality, or perhaps I should say the non-reaction, is one of the most appealing things about this book.  The revelation is only surprising to Augie himself; all the other characters in the book figure it out long before Augie, and as a result, his coming out is a complete non-event.  The subsequent relationship between Augie and Andy is handled no differently than the heterosexual relationships in the book, and although the realities of being a gay teenager are perhaps oversimplified, they are certainly not ignored.

Although the romantic relationships are a central theme to the story, they are not the only type of relationship that the book explores.  The idea of chosen family, rather than merely biological connections, is also a key element of the story, and Augie and T.C.’s declaration at the age of six that they are brothers is immediately accepted by Augie’s parents and T.C.’s father.  The role that Augie played in helping T.C. accept the death of his mother is reflected in the character of Hucky, a young deaf orphan whom T.C., and subsequently Augie and Alé, befriend.  Although this plot line does strain credulity at times, it is not so sweet as to be unpleasant.

Overall, despite a few moments that ring false and a couple of plot developments that seem to teeter on the edge of total unbelievability, the immensely likeable characters are mostly able to overcome it.  The conclusion veers into near fantasy but is so satisfying that I couldn’t bring myself to be bothered by it.  And I totally cried.  I am not ashamed to admit it.  I also laughed a lot and kicked my feet and squealed several times while reading this book, which I always take as a good sign.  This book will make you feel good, and if you’re in the mood for that kind of book, you’d be hard pressed to do better than this one.

Order it from an independent bookseller!