June 17, 2024
Essie was raised in secret by four librarians after being discovered as a baby in the children’s department of an Indiana library. Fearing kidnapping charges,
the quartet devise a system to keep Essie in the building, unbeknownst to the establishment’s timid director. Loved “extravagantly” by her four mothers, Essie befriends library patrons, but she’s never left the grounds and yearns for a family that includes siblings. At age 11, Essie’s moms supply her with a bicycle, an allowance, and permission to explore the four blocks around the library, which include a pedestrian mall, a candy store, and two department stores. Despite some disappointing interactions and purchases, Essie thoroughly enjoys her weekly outings. But when she meets G.E., a boy who resembles her and appears to live in one of the department stores, she starts to wonder if they are twins separated at birth. Essie’s earnest longing for siblings and an expanded support network—rendered in a chatty, deadpan tone by Horvath (Pine Island Visitors)—impart relatable emotional depth to this laboriously quirky tale. Essie and G.E. read as white. Ages 9–12.
June 1, 2024
Grades 4-6 Essie was raised in the public library. After the four children's librarians, who have no kids of their own, first hear her cries from a bassinet on the bottom shelf, they wait to see if someone claims her. When no one does, they decide to share parental responsibilities. Each sleeps over in the department office with their daughter every fourth night, and they divulge their secret to no one but Essie herself. When she turns 11, they give her a bicycle and permission to explore nearby parts of the town on her own. During one excursion, after meeting a boy who resembles her closely, she convinces herself that they must be twins. The plot twists in other unexpected ways as Essie and her mothers struggle to keep their secret. In the end, all is revealed--including Essie's true identity and her mysterious backstory. While at times the four mothers' concerns may interest adults more than children, this improbable romp is fast-paced, richly imaginative, and written with abundant humor. An engaging choice for reading aloud.
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July 1, 2024
Gr 3-6-Horvath's latest opens in a small-town public library, closed for the night. Four librarians encounter an abandoned baby in the children's department. To fulfill their individual dreams of motherhood, they decide to covertly raise the baby together in the library. As young Essie grows up, she can't imagine getting by without her four mothers. However, when she turns 11, she feels the urge to expand her horizons by venturing outside the library walls. She starts taking weekly trips to the local mall, slowly introducing herself to the real world. Then she meets G.E., an 11-year-old boy whose parental situation appears just as mysterious as hers. Does G.E. hold the key to her past? As her search for family deepens, bibliophile Essie discovers there is always more to the story. The plot has enough twists to keep readers guessing until the end. Horvath's rich descriptions of setting and quaint vocabulary draw readers in. Although Essie is naive in many ways, she is an astute observer of her surroundings. Secondary characters are (mostly) kind and supportive of Essie; tyrannical library administrator Ms. Matterhorn is an effective foil for Essie and her mothers. Most characters read white; librarian Taisha has "twilight" colored skin. VERDICT A love letter to books and the dreamers who read them. Hand this charming story to precocious readers and fans of Matilda.-Hannah Grasse
Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 15, 2024
Four librarians secretly raise the baby they found one day in the children's room of the Huffington, Indiana, town library. The women are friends, all single and childless (though not by choice), and each is a little quirky. By the time Essie's 11, she's read a great deal about the world but experienced little. Meeting G.E., a boy who looks just like her, makes her dream of being part of a large family. The two plot: Essie's four mothers could marry the four male department store employees who are G.E.'s dads. The real outcome turns out to be slightly more complicated. The adult characters are drawn with broad, slightly stereotypical strokes: fat, white Midwesterner Doris is a terrible cook, French Jeanne-Marie is "thin and spiky" but a romantic at heart, Black Taisha has incredible skin and "a lovely froth of black hair around her head like moss," and black-haired Lucinda has "that kind of look" that makes people think of fortunetellers (likewise, Hernandez, one of G.E.'s dads, "makes great Mexican food," in contrast to the "regular stuff" prepared by one of his white dads). Horvath doesn't simplify her vocabulary or philosophical musings for her audience, tossing in, without translation, French phrases and a little Yiddish. The low-tech, late-20th-century, small-town setting offers a safe, well-staffed library: It's a lovely daydream for readers who think that E.L. Konigsburg's Claudia Kincaid had the right idea (but should have run away to a library instead of the Met). Amusing.(Fiction. 9-12)
COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
September 1, 2024
Readers willing to suspend an absolute ocean of disbelief will find an original, outlandish romp of a tale. Newborn Esmeralda is left in the stacks of the Huffington (IN) Public Library and kept secret by four librarians who all long to be mothers. The women take turns staying overnight in the library as they raise the girl together, somehow avoiding detection for her entire childhood. Fast-forward to when Essie, now eleven, is given a bit more freedom to explore the wider world, venturing outside the library's walls for the first time. One day, she meets a boy named G.E. who Essie becomes convinced is in fact her twin brother and also in a parallel situation to hers -- that he's being raised by four fathers, men who work in a nearby department store. As it turns out, Essie is mistaken -- but not entirely so. The novel's setup allows Horvath plenty of opportunities for commentary on reading and literature ("A good book or play was a good book or play whether it was Louis the Fish or Henry V"), libraries, family, and even the perils of revolving doors. Horvath takes as much care with the characterizations of the four librarians as she does with Essie's, and as always her storytelling abilities are top-notch. Martha V. Parravano
(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
July 1, 2024
Readers willing to suspend an absolute ocean of disbelief will find an original, outlandish romp of a tale. Newborn Esmeralda is left in the stacks of the Huffington (IN) Public Library and kept secret by four librarians who all long to be mothers. The women take turns staying overnight in the library as they raise the girl together, somehow avoiding detection for her entire childhood. Fast-forward to when Essie, now eleven, is given a bit more freedom to explore the wider world, venturing outside the library's walls for the first time. One day, she meets a boy named G.E. who Essie becomes convinced is in fact her twin brother and also in a parallel situation to hers -- that he's being raised by four fathers, men who work in a nearby department store. As it turns out, Essie is mistaken -- but not entirely so. The novel's setup allows Horvath plenty of opportunities for commentary on reading and literature ("A good book or play was a good book or play whether it was Louis the Fish or Henry V"), libraries, family, and even the perils of revolving doors. Horvath takes as much care with the characterizations of the four librarians as she does with Essie's, and as always her storytelling abilities are top-notch.
(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)