July 27, 2020
Readers who have grown to love Newbery Honoree Horvath’s (Everything on a Waffle) slightly quirky characters and unique situations will not be disappointed by this suspenseful story of four orphaned sisters in Borneo, who are in a pickle after their missionary parents are swept away by a tsunami. None of the girls’ “suitable” relatives are willing to take in the four children, so as a last resort, 14-year-old Fiona and her younger siblings are sent to their “peculiar” Aunt Martha, who lives in the woods of British Columbia; upon arriving, they discover that Martha has died of a heart attack but had prepared her home for their stay. Terrified that they will be separated and placed into foster care, they reside in their aunt’s cottage and bribe her grumpy, beer-guzzling neighbor Al to pretend to be their guardian if they bring him dinner—“a hot dinner”—every night. Still, practical-minded Fiona fears it is only a matter of time before social services or Aunt Martha’s suspicious attorney discovers their ruse. Presenting a delicate balance between traumas (sister Natasha getting lost in the woods) and joys (finding an unexpected cohort in the elementary school principal), Horvath’s wide array of contrasting personalities adds humor and depth to the familiar premise of orphans forced to survive on their own. Ages 9–12.
September 1, 2020
Grades 4-7 For those who like to settle into a comfy spot and spend quality time with spunky heroines and quirky supporting characters, Horvath's latest certainly fits the bill. Like the author's The Canning Season (2003) and Everything on a Waffle (2001), food plays a part in helping four orphaned sisters stick together despite the fact that their great aunt, who was meant to take them in, has actually died, leaving them to fend for themselves on her farm in British Columbia. In order to fool the locals into thinking an adult is watching over them, the oldest girls bribe a cranky neighbor, Al?who has his own secrets?with dinners delivered to his door. While Marlin pours her efforts into her culinary creations and Fiona handles their finances, Al goes along reluctantly, but crises keep popping up. One sister gets lost on a mountain, and another attracts the attention of a friendly, but hungry, bear. Readers will keep going with the hope that things somehow will work out.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)
October 30, 2020
GR 4-7-Fourteen-year-old Fiona's take-charge nature comes in handy when the four McCready sisters are orphaned, and only upon arrival find that their aunt no longer lives in British Columbia. Energetic Fiona, practical Marlin, dreamy Natasha, and timid Charlie hatch a plot to avoid social services, enlisting the crotchety next-door neighbor to pose as their guardian, trading him Marlin's home-cooked dinners and $20 a week for car rides and an adult signature when needed. Once readers are on board with the girls' very occasional sadness over the loss of both parents, the story is warm, funny, and insightful. School principal Miss Webster and conservation officer Don Pettinger help keep their secret, but the girls, in grades from high school to elementary, make a run at challenges quite ingeniously on their own. Al Farber is a richly drawn curmudgeon, with depth of character that brings to mind Susan Smith from Kimberly Brubaker Bradley's The War that Saved My Life. VERDICT Horvath hits the perfect notes of independence, adventure, and sentimentality, without being cloying. Hand to fans of Jeanne Birdsall's The Penderwicks and Karina Yan Glaser's The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street. Deserves a place in most middle school libraries.-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley Sch., Fort Worth, TX
Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 1, 2020
Horvath (Everything on a Waffle, rev. 5/01) returns to her sweet spot (parents lost in tragic accident; quaint British Columbia setting) for her latest novel. When after a long journey orphaned sisters Fiona, Marlin, Natasha, and Charlie arrive at the Pine Island home of the only relative willing to take them in, they discover that Great-Aunt Martha has died and that her house is theirs. They decide, audaciously, to stay. Reasoning that in order to avoid foster care they must find an adult willing to be their guardian, even if in name only, they hire a neighbor, the bellicose and usually hungover Al, to pose as theirs. The book's tension grows from Fiona's attempts to keep the tenuous deception going as she struggles to juggle household and school responsibilities; act as surrogate parent to her younger sisters; put off a suspicious lawyer; and find the money to pay hefty inheritance taxes. Of course, everything would be much easier if the girls had a real guardian, and they pin their hopes on teacher Miss Webster, who has been let in on their secret. Horvath's resolution nicely subverts just about all readers' expectations (though that ending comes quite abruptly); meanwhile, readers will be treated to a story featuring suspense, believable characters, a fully realized setting, and nuggets of Horvath wisdom ("It suddenly occurred to her that...�a bear's] mind might be full of all kinds of things just as hers was. The things he loved, the things he feared, the things he missed, the new things he was puzzling out. That any creature's life was made up of the wonderful jumble of what they held in their head and their heart").
(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
September 1, 2020
Horvath (Everything on a Waffle, rev. 5/01) returns to her sweet spot (parents lost in tragic accident; quaint British Columbia setting) for her latest novel. When after a long journey orphaned sisters Fiona, Marlin, Natasha, and Charlie arrive at the Pine Island home of the only relative willing to take them in, they discover that Great-Aunt Martha has died and that her house is theirs. They decide, audaciously, to stay. Reasoning that in order to avoid foster care they must find an adult willing to be their guardian, even if in name only, they hire a neighbor, the bellicose and usually hungover Al, to pose as theirs. The book's tension grows from Fiona's attempts to keep the tenuous deception going as she struggles to juggle household and school responsibilities; act as surrogate parent to her younger sisters; put off a suspicious lawyer; and find the money to pay hefty inheritance taxes. Of course, everything would be much easier if the girls had a real guardian, and they pin their hopes on teacher Miss Webster, who has been let in on their secret. Horvath's resolution nicely subverts just about all readers' expectations (though that ending comes quite abruptly); meanwhile, readers will be treated to a story featuring suspense, believable characters, a fully realized setting, and nuggets of Horvath wisdom ("It suddenly occurred to her that...[a bear's] mind might be full of all kinds of things just as hers was. The things he loved, the things he feared, the things he missed, the new things he was puzzling out. That any creature's life was made up of the wonderful jumble of what they held in their head and their heart"). Martha V. Parravano
(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
Starred review from July 1, 2020
Four orphaned girls try to figure out how to get along on their own. When a relative is found to take them in after their missionary parents' sudden deaths by tsunami, the McCready sisters move from Borneo to British Columbia only to discover that Great-Aunt Martha has died unexpectedly. However, Martha has left her paperwork in good order, registered the children at the local schools, and stocked her house with food and beds. Fourteen-year-old Fiona must keep everyone together and avoid alerting social services. The school principal is sympathetic and supportive. The cranky neighbor, Al, a drinker who lets fly the occasional oath and whose trailer home is in disarray, reluctantly agrees to pretend to be the girls' guardian. They think of him as the Waste Troll, based on a disparaging comment by the McCreadys' garden-gnome-look-alike lawyer. While Marlin, 12, discovers her affinity and talent for cooking and baking, Natasha, 10, becomes a bird-watcher, and Charlie, 8 and a worrier, befriends Al before any of the others. The default white is assumed. Horvath, ever respectful of the inner lives of children, has a way of incorporating moments of sweet hilarity into an account that makes the girls' situation seem plausible. She doesn't stint on vocabulary or on sophisticated observations, yet her narrative arc is direct and extraordinarily satisfying, with its emphasis on competence and survival of the domestic, familial, and emotional sort. Delightful. (Fiction. 9-14)
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