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INTERMEDIATE FICTION
Arnold, Elana K.

The House That Wasn't There

288 pp. | HarperCollins/Walden Pond | March, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-06-293706-3 $16.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-0-06-293708-7 $8.99
(2) 4-6 Eleven-year-old Alder and his mother have lived on Rollingwood Drive in Los Angeles "since before he could remember." Their relationship with new neighbors, a girl named Oak and her family, starts badly when Oak's mother cuts down an old walnut tree. Alder resists Oak's subsequent attempts at friendship, while Oak deals with the challenge of being a new kid. When the two independently adopt kittens, who turn out to be siblings, the kids' new pets draw them into an unexplained situation involving a house that suddenly appears between their two houses--and then disappears. Thanks to a book Oak finds called Feline Teleportation, they begin to suspect that their kittens have supernatural powers, and a friendship slowly grows as the two investigate. They also take a DNA test as part of a class project, which ends up revealing an even closer connection. While the fantasy elements add mystery (and set up readers' suspension of disbelief, required for the ending), the book also effectively explores the realities of friendship and family, creating a world where Alder and Oak find navigating cafeteria seating arrangements and investigating their kittens' teleportation skills equally real and challenging.
Reviewer: Sarah Rettger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2021

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