(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Gregory O'Brien. Nine-year-old Perry, an only child, spends Thursday afternoons with her grandmother, Honora Lee, who lives at the Santa Lucia nursing home and suffers from dementia. With Honora Lee's help, Perry writes and illustrates an alphabet book about the residents. Fans of middle grade novels with quirky female protagonists will enjoy this story and its stylish color illustrations, which suit the mood of the text.

Reviewer: Barratt Miller

(1) YA Twelve-year-old Frankie is the anxious youngest son in a quirky, loving, extended family, but its rich culture of jokes and rituals cannot quite compensate for Frankie's mother's (unnamed) agoraphobia. A new friend, the bold and outspoken Sydney, opens Frankie to the possibility of change--and the delicate hint of romance. This New Zealand import is witty, delightfully rambling, iconoclastic, and deeply moving.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2010