CCBC Booklists

CCBC Review:

After Abi’s dad marries Max and Louis’s mom, the family rents an old, vine-covered house that has more space and both parents take on additional work to afford it. In the midst of these big changes, Max, 14, has fallen out with best friend Danny and developed a crush on Esme, the French art student hired to care for Louis after school. Louis, 7, misses and worries about his mom, whose new job takes her to dangerous places in other parts of the world. And Abi, 12, sometimes resents sharing her dad with the boys. She’s also noticed something strange in the house: Whenever she reads a book, the world of the story becomes real. She’s found herself sailing on the Kon-tiki, and sitting in a bus teetering on the edge of a cliff. When Louis confides to Abi that he’s been keeping a secret pet he calls Iffen, a “cat-thing” that started out small and friendly but has since grown large and wild, Abi realizes that Iffen must come from a book, too, but Louis actively resists reading, so what book? Finding the answer, and returning Iffen to the book from which it came, requires the cooperation of all three kids, cementing their transformation into a family. A novel that wonderfully integrates the magic of books into the real world is classic Hilary McKay: observant, thoughtful, poignant, and laced with brilliant dashes of humor. Biracial Abi is Jamaican/white, Max and Louis white, in this story set in Britain. ©2021 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

 

CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 9-12
Age Range: Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10) Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Format: Novel
Subjects: Books and Reading Change Fantasy Friendship Humor Multiracial Characters/Families Mysteries Separation Siblings Stepfamilies Worry
Diversity subject: Black/African
On CCBC Booklist: Fantasy for 8 to 12 Year Olds: Giants, Journeys, and Other Imaginings 

Publishers: Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster
Publish Year: 2020
Pages: 229
ISBN: 9781534462762
CCBC Location: Fiction, McKay

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