LULU ATLANTIS AND THE QUEST FOR TRUE BLUE LOVE

Life is positively vexing for Lulu Atlantis at this particular moment in time. It isn’t enough that her father is constantly away saving various animal species from extinction, but now her mother has gone and had an unnecessary (to Lulu’s eyes) baby. With her best friend Harry at her side (a top-hatted spider who may just exist in Lulu’s imagination), Lulu decides to search for the True Blue Love she is certain she currently lacks. In the course of four stories she also makes the acquaintance of a tough-talking skunk, gangster bakers, a spoiled kitty and an Egg Man. A near tragedy at the end also teaches Lulu that love of this particular shade is sometimes closer to home than we realize. The “True Blue Love” conceit become tiresome, but Martin’s clever enough to pepper her twee sensibilities with honestly imaginative writing. There’s enough good old-fashioned curiosity and, quite frankly, weirdness in this early chapter book to overcome its potentially cutesy underpinnings. With descriptive sentences and a penchant for eclectic storytelling, this is an author to watch. (Fiction. 6-9)