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320 pp.
| HarperCollins/Harper |
May, 2021 |
TradeISBN 978-0-06-303448-8$16.99
|
EbookISBN 978-0-06-303450-1$8.99
(2)
4-6
Although Kitty's mother was a psychologist who tried to prepare her daughters for her death from cancer, Kitty, age eleven, struggles with complicated emotions. She manages her feelings with the help of "Team Wentworth," the family and friends who support her, her sister Imogen, and their father through their grief. That support sometimes takes unusual forms, such as a request to help a neighbor prepare for her appearance on The Great British Bake Off. But just as Kitty starts to regain her balance, her father decides to move the family from London to New York for a short-term job assignment. She has trouble settling down in New York and worries about her father's friendship with a woman he met through a widowed parents' support group. Gradually, Kitty finds the New York equivalent of Team Wentworth, deals with her feelings, and finds a sense of normalcy by the time the family returns to London, and she is ready to push beyond her comfort zone when a new opportunity arises. Kitty is a perceptive narrator, keenly aware of the emotional currents around her. Clark's characters, both adult and child, are fully realized and slightly eccentric without being caricatures. The book takes a thoughtful approach to grief and recovery, exploring Kitty's emotional growth in a nondidactic way.
Reviewer: Sarah Rettger
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
July, 2021