The Turnabout Shop - Hardcover

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Grade 4-6?A touching story about the acceptance of loss and change. Livvy's world is shattered when her free-spirited mother dies and leaves instructions for the child to be sent to live with a college friend of whom she has never spoken. In poignant and sometimes funny monologues directed at her mother, Livvy reveals her feelings about having to adjust to a very different life. Her guardian, Jessie Barnes, is a serious, sensible woman who owns an antique shop and seems never to have had a fun-loving moment. In addition, she has a large extended family. Livvy, whose previous life consisted of just her and her mother, feels surrounded by strangers and is sure that she'll never fit in. Soon, though, things get a bit better. She finds a good friend in her new fifth-grade class and gets to know some of her neighbors. Even the new relatives have some good points. The hardest thing for Livvy is getting along with Jessie. Over time, though, they come to some understandings and develop a realistically hopeful relationship. Livvy finally realizes that although no one can ever replace her mother, she can still have a happy life and a true sense of belonging. The characters are all well developed and the situations are entirely believable. What stands out most here, though, is Livvy's voice. Its blend of humor and heartbreak makes this a very real and unforgettable novel. Youngsters in similar situations will have a particular empathy with Livvy, but all readers will enjoy this heartwarming story.?Arwen Marshall, New York Public Library
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The author of Remembering Mog offers another sensitive rendering of loss, this time focusing on how fifth-grader Livvy begins a new life after her mother's death. Through a series of imaginary notes to her mother ("I decided I would write it out to Althea?not on paper, though, but only in my head"), Livvy states her impressions of her new guardian, all-too-sensible Jessie Barnes ("You could have told me she was a moth instead of a butterfly"); her new Baltimore neighborhood; and Jessie's "old and dusty" antique store called the Turnabout Shop. Despite the heroine's complaints about Jessie and homesickness for New York, readers will know, almost immediately, that Livvy has been placed in good hands and will come to cherish Jessie as much as her mother did. Less complex and psychologically tense than the author's previous novel, this nonetheless poignant, quiet story offers a reassuring view of coming to terms with grief and unwelcome change. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Orphaned and grieving, Livvy is dismayed when her dying mother Althea's wish leaves her in the care of a woman she's never heard of. Who is this Jessie Barnes? An old college roommate, Livvy learns--a moth next to the vivid butterfly that was Althea--and a quiet, sensible woman who runs an antiques shop with her own mother, Ivy. Livvy also learns that Jessie hasn't known about Althea's wish much longer than she has. Rodowsky (Hannah in Between, 1994, etc.) gives Livvy plenty of support adapting to her new home, new town, and new fifth grade: Lu, a decidedly un-shy classmate; Charlie Farley, a neighbor with a gift for offhanded pearls of wisdom; and patient, low-key Jessie Barnes, who seems almost colorless next to her loving, boisterous parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews. Although Livvy occasionally bursts out in what Althea always called ``wanton words,'' her grief and anger are relatively restrained, and in time she grasps just how hard it was for risk-shy Jessie to accept her new responsibilities. By the end, the two have found ways to reach one another, and when the shop burns down, it's Livvy's turn to help Jessie through a loss. The author never pontificates, readers will take to the immensely likable cast, and Jessie's and Althea's characters burst forth from Livvy's narration as vividly as her own. (Fiction. 9-11) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.