Lizzie!

March 3, 2014
Eleven-year-old Lizzie is as candid about the diving accident that left her paralyzed as she is about the fact that "My father was a sperm from a sperm bank in California that specializes in sperm from very intelligent men." Living with her progressive mother in Florida, Lizzie doesn't spend much time lamenting the loss of her mobility. Instead, she eagerly soaks up new knowledge, carefully observes the adults that orbit her world, and frequents an exotic petting zoo run by a well-meaning but uneducated manâall of which she records in her "autobiography." When Lizzy learns that Henry's petting zoo may be illegally importing endangered animals, she faces a moral quandary. Kumin, a former U.S. Poet Laureate who died in early February, provides Lizzie with a voice that is endearing, if at times overly precocious. Lizzie's swift embroilment in a murder case associated with the petting zoo also strains believability. Nevertheless, that Lizzie's disability isn't the central focus of her narrative is refreshing, in a charming story about perspective, integrity, and developing one's own system of ethics. Art not seen by PW. Ages 9â12.

March 15, 2014
Kumin's latest effort is hindered by its format; this fictional autobiography is as unpolished and disorganized as a real preteen's diary. At her friend Trippy's urging, 11-year-old Lizzie is excitedly writing her autobiography--beginning with her spinal-cord injury two years earlier and continuing through the minutiae of her life in Florida, which includes crushing on fellow wheelchair user Josh and discovering animal smugglers. With a penchant for Latin and condescension, precocious Lizzie resembles the eponymous narrator of Lisa Yee's Millicent Min, Girl Genius (2003) but, sadly, lacks her coherence. The book is largely a collection of declarative sentences rather than vivid scenes, skipping from dessert choices to Scrabble to detective work and even interrupting an abduction to define "penlight." Any adventure in the smuggling subplot fizzles under her (stereotyped) Hispanic friend's expository dialogue or Lizzie's obvious statements. ("But what he did next was really scary," Lizzie writes of the smuggler.) After yet another tangent, Lizzie writes, "This is the kind of thing that happens to me all the time where words are concerned, when I should be paying attention to the question." Readers looking for a tighter plot may wish that she had, indeed, paid attention. Readers would do better with Millicent Min or The One and Only Ivan (2012). (Fiction. 8-11)

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May 1, 2014

Gr 4-6-Eleven-year-old Lizzie Peterlinz is not your typical tween. After slipping off a diving board two years earlier, Lizzie is paralyzed below the waist, but she doesn't let it stop her. Still adjusting to her recent move to Florida, she makes some unlikely friends: Josh, another kid in a wheelchair; Digger, a former police chief; and Digger's wife, Teresa. When her old friend, Tippy, comes to visit, the two girls go to the petting zoo. There they discover a shack full of screeching tamarin monkeys and a mysterious boy named Julio, whose uncle is illegally keeping the animals. In an attempt to bring the man to justice, the two girls investigate with the help of Digger, but the thief disappears with the monkeys. Will the trio be able to solve the case before it's too late? The pacing for this book is a little slow, but the story is unique. The information provided about the monkeys is presented naturally by the characters and is integrated nicely into the narrative. The sprinkling of Spanish words creates an engaging, informative text that enriches the storytelling. Although the climax feels a little rushed, readers will enjoy how the author turns the main character's dark moment into something positive. A nice selection for readers who like realistic fiction, animals, and mysteries.-Kira Moody, Whitmore Public Library, Salt Lake City, UT

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