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INTERMEDIATE FICTION
Young, Karen Romano

A Girl, a Raccoon, and the Midnight Moon

386 pp. | Chronicle | January, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-1-4521-6952-1 $16.99
(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Jessixa Bagley. Pearl was born at the Lancaster Avenue branch of the (fictional) New York City Library, and as the circulation librarian's daughter, she has felt at home there for more than a decade. But the library building is neglected and in disrepair, and developers want to repurpose it for housing. When Pearl discovers the library's beloved statue of Edna St. Vincent Millay is missing its head, she leads a search for it while organizing neighborhood enthusiasm for both "Vincent" and the library. In a surprise fantastical twist, she discovers that the raccoons living in the library's basement are book lovers, skilled journalists, and some of her most valuable allies in the fight to save her home. The richly developed cast of characters--library manager Bruce, Pearl's classmate Francine, journalist Jonathan Yoiks--supports a solid and fast-moving plot with an entertaining narrative reveal. Bagley's illustrations bring Pearl's world to life, and the explanatory sidebars that appear throughout the book ("A Sidebar About Exclamation Points"; "A Sidebar About Homelessness") are informative as well as plot-shaping. Pearl's growth over the course of the story is satisfying, and the book effectively delivers its multiple messages without overwhelming readers.
Reviewer: Sarah Rettger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2020

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