THE INFINITE QUESTIONS OF DOTTIE BING

A child deals with loss.

When 10-year-old Dottie Bing’s Grandpa Walter shows up at her house, he is carrying a Chock full o’ Nuts coffee can and his suitcase. He is there to visit after the death of Dottie’s grandma Ima. Dottie soon realizes Grandpa Walter goes everywhere with the coffee can, which is filled with Ima’s ashes. He brings it to the kitchen, where he pours two cups of coffee; he reads out loud to it; and he plays cards with it. Dottie is puzzled, but she is dealing with her grief in her own way—building a treehouse, because Ima always wanted one. Her best friend, Sam, is excited to help in this mission—a word Dottie knows Sam will like, since he loves using complex vocabulary, introduced throughout (which readers will delight in learning and using). Tucked into this brilliant mix of a plot is Miles, an unfriendly boy who is always making fun of Sam and Dottie, and Dottie’s younger sister, Jazzy, a force of nature in a 4-year-old body. As Dottie and Sam build the treehouse, Dottie focuses on all the animals in her stomach—an effective, original metaphor for her churned-up feelings of grief and change. Embellished with black-and-white illustrations, this surprisingly humorous story has narrative details that fold seamlessly into the overall plot while cleverly enriching it. Most characters read as White in the artwork; Sam is trans.

Profound in its own sparkling, humorous way.