ABIGAIL IRIS

Abigail Iris is just as happy-go-lucky as she was in the series opener, Abigail Iris: The One and Only (2009). This chapter-book text lilts along like the first, frequently accompanied by Allen’s cozy sketches. Her parents, one sister and two half-brothers lovingly nurture Abigail Iris, who is sweet natured and somewhat young for eight. One day at the farmer’s market, she holds a black kitten and falls in love. She’s joyful when her half-birthday arrives along with the fluffy little feline she dubs Spot. Sadly, the family soon determines that Abigail Iris’s older sister’s tenacious cold is actually an allergy to the cat. While they consider their options, Abigail Iris notices that many people in her life are facing huge changes: Her half-brother has a girlfriend, but his beloved dog is dying of old age, and her friend is nervous about a new sibling on the horizon. Circumstances eventually allow for her family to make arrangements that, though difficult, are good enough. In the philosophical Abigail Iris, Glatt and Greenberg give readers a role model for adaptation and compromise. (Fiction. 7-9)