Matylda, Bright and Tender

January 9, 2017
Fourth-graders Sussy and Guy are inseparable, sharing everything—including a leopard gecko they name Matylda. Though Matylda seems to prefer Guy, who is unfazed by the fact that she eats live food (and her own old skin), Sussy loves her, too. When Guy dies protecting Sussy, she channels her pain into caring for Matylda, believing the lizard keenly feels Guy’s loss. Driven by her desire to keep Matylda happy and safe, Sussy begins lying and stealing, becoming increasingly reckless as she fails to confront her grief. At its core, this is a sincere, tender story of friendship: Sussy recounts memories of adventures and conversations with Guy, drawing parallels between the friend she desperately misses and the steadfast Matylda. Even Sussy’s thefts serve as a kind of distorted mirror to qualities she admires in Guy and Matylda. Sussy’s deep sorrow hovers at the edges of each page, but McGhee (the author of Dessert First and other books, writing as Hallie Durand) handles the story’s heavy emotions with a light touch, using Sussy’s changing relationship with Matylda and a classmate to provide balance. Ages 8–12. Agent: Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties.

February 1, 2017

Gr 4-6-Sussy and Guy are as close as two friends can be. They share everything, even their pet leopard gecko, Matylda, who lives at Sussy's house but is more comfortable with Guy. The tale takes an early tragic turn when Guy is killed in an accident while trying to save Sussy from being attacked by a dog. Sussy is devastated. To deal with the loss of her best friend, she turns her attention to Matylda, who she believes is suffering similarly. As Sussy tries to heal from the emotional desolation, a new facet of her personality takes shape. "The stealing girl" convinces Sussy to compulsively take things for Matylda from the pet store. Sussy's self-destructive focus on Matylda ultimately results in an outburst that injures her, revealing the depth of the emotional conflict, which drives the remainder of the story. Both Sussy and Guy are creative, intelligent characters, and this novel is a good fit for sensitive middle grade readers. With Guy's death occurring in the first quarter of the book, the bulk of the plot centers on Sussy's experience processing grief and living with loss rather than on Guy's death. The narrative is told from Sussy's point of view, and it is a treat to experience the world from her poetic and imaginative perspective. McGhee's depictions of grief and loss are authentic, as are the responses of Sussy's parents, who are unsure of how to comfort their daughter. The emergence of the "stealing girl," who motivates Sussy's uncharacteristic actions, lends itself to thought-provoking discussions, making this a good read-aloud or book club selection.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2016
After losing her best friend, a little girl tries to hold on to him by transferring her affection to the pet lizard they shared in picture-book author Hallie Durand's first novel.Ten-year-old, white Sussy (short for Susquehanna) has been best friends with Guy since kindergarten and loves him "more than anything." When Guy suggests they need a pet, they purchase a leopard gecko they name Matylda, imagining the little lizard as a warrior drawn to them by love. Guy has a special connection with Matylda, who clearly responds to him more than Sussy. Everything changes after Guy is killed in a biking accident trying to save Sussy from an attacking dog. Alone, bereft, and filled with guilt, Sussy vows to find a way to love Matylda just as Guy did, since the lizard is all she has left of him. Isolated in her bedroom all summer, wearing the same clothes she wore the day Guy died, Sussy constantly relives the accident and tries to justify stealing special food and toys to earn Matylda's affection. In her own words, Sussy poignantly describes her emotional journey from grief and despair to healing and hope as she learns how to love Matylda in her own way and move on without Guy. McGhee does not flinch from Sussy's overwhelming grief, spinning out long sentences that keep taking her back to the awful truth. A bright and tender novel of love, loss, and survival. (Fiction. 8-12)

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January 1, 2017
Grades 3-6 A fascination with herpetology might be a prerequisite for enjoying this middle-grade novel told from the viewpoint of spirited 10-year-old Susquehanna Indiana Reed, who loses her closest friend. A visit to the pet store ends with Sussy and Guy adopting a leopard gecko, whom the pair name Matylda ( With a y so it's all her own, insists Guy), and they quickly cook up a fanciful origin story for their pet. Readers will learn a whole lot about the care and feeding of geckos, until a bike accident leads to Guy's death, and Sussy is left alone with the pet they were supposed to share. We never get a real sense of Guy, loyal paragon that he appears, and Sussy's intensebut, by nature, one-sidedattempts to bond with the reptile verge on magical realism. At times, her coping strategies are disturbingly dark, but this tackles grief for the middle-grade set in much the same way as Ali Benjamin's The Thing about Jellyfish (2015). As a simple preadolescent love story, it's refreshing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)