LEEVA AT LAST

A neglected child asks a poignant and essential question: “What are people for?”

Leeva Thornblossom only knows that she’s around 8 or 9, but when she learns that a school will open in her town, she longs to go. But her mother, the mayor, and her father, the town treasurer, only love power, fame, and money. Their Employee Manual (Leeva is the sole employee) forbids Leeva to leave the grounds. What Leeva knows of the world comes from reading the Nutsmore Weekly and watching the soap opera The Winds of Our Tides. The accumulation of injustices propels Leeva beyond the hedge surrounding their property, and she discovers a building next door filled with books. A young man named Harry runs the library for his librarian aunt, whose skateboarding injuries hinder her from doing the work she loves. Leeva learns that most of the problems in her town can be attributed to her parents. Harry helps her befriend Osmund, so afraid of disasters that he wears a hazmat suit, and Fern, who must care for several siblings and her aging grandparents. Leeva also takes charge of Bob, a cranky badger whose family was displaced to make room for the mayor’s statue. Pennypacker delivers a hugely entertaining mix of outsized comedic villainy, dreadful parents, delicious cookies, and kindness rewarded. Leeva’s sturdy instincts for both survival and justice are worth celebrating, as is the gift of books that expand her world. Main characters read White. Final art not seen.

Splendid fun.