ANATOMY OF LOST THINGS

Changes and altered perspectives come to three young people with fractured families.

Deftly laying down individual nuances of disposition and character, Stout follows three preteens through and past crucial points in their lives. Florida hurricane refugee Nell Evetts McDonough, still grieving the death of one mom, is desperate to overcome the reluctance of her other one to leave Maryland and return to their old life in Florida. Traumatized Tildy Gubbers has lost trust in her mom, who’s just come back to their Maryland town after suddenly taking off to New York City for several months. And Leon Monteforte, along with nursing a painful crush on Tildy, yearns to comfort the grieving, recently widowed grandma who raised him—by contacting his grandpa in the spirit world. Punctuated with comic relief in the form of occasional screams and chaos caused by David Attenborough (Leon’s large, scene-stealing Madagascar hissing cockroach, whose character is just as artfully animated as anyone else’s here), friendship grows in natural, organic stages as events lead to crises and, ultimately, brighter futures. Meanwhile, through flashbacks and inventive tweaks (including a hint of fantasy), the author also unfolds a thoughtful subplot about how, even though inanimate objects can become invested with meaning, just letting them go might sometimes be best. The two-legged cast registers as white.

Sad, funny, and thematically rich; loaded with feels and appeals.