Tracing Stars

Starred review from April 1, 2012
Most kids can pucker up a fish face, but Indie Lee Chickory can make specific ones like wounded mackerel, flat haddock and trout pout, earning her the label of fish freak of Plumtown. When her Coke-loving pet golden lobster (yes, they exist, one in 30 million) escapes into the ocean, recovering Lobster Monty Cola becomes the crux (and crustacean) of the story. With the help of oddball loser Owen, whose father shipped him out for the summer to his aunt, who builds sets for the town musical, she aims to get Monty back. The two hoist the front and back ends of a splintered rowboat up into a tree-house platform to rebuild it so they can scout for Monty's return. Their efforts are complicated by the love/hate interaction between Indie and her older sister Bebe (who's in the play), an overzealous police officer, shooting stars and the constellation Pisces, Owen's Book of Logic and Reason: Observation Log IV, peer pressure and a cast of community characters in this tourist fishing town. The seaside setting is awash with details--theatre terms, fish names, Indie's Carhartt pants--that define the community and Indie's family in it and also salt the action. This improbable plot and spunky protagonist are appealing bait for a heartfelt, memorable story. (Fiction. 8-13)

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June 1, 2012

Gr 4-7-Set in a Maine coastal town, this offbeat summer story ably explores themes of self-discovery and friendship. Impetuous Indie Lee Chickory, whose family owns Chickory and Chips Famous Fishery, can mimic any kind of fish face, earning her the nickname "Fish freak." Her sister Bebe used to love making fish faces as well, and she and Indie would trace "their" constellation, Pisces, and make wishes. But now Bebe finds her younger sister's antics embarrassing. On the last day of fifth grade, Indie's beloved pet, a rare golden lobster named The Lobster Monty Cola, crawls into her school backpack and in the ensuing havoc escapes back to the ocean. A distraught Indie is determined to find Monty while her fashionable sister is equally determined to make over the reluctant Indie into a version of herself. Enter Owen, a bit of an outsider himself, who befriends Indie, and with his scientific brain helps to orchestrate a lobster rescue mission, including a hilarious nighttime escapade involving a borrowed golf cart. The writing, replete with sea and fish images, can be clunky, but Indie's development is moving-especially when she stands up for Owen and what she believes in after a cruel prank. The story is set against the backdrop of a summer production of The Sound of Music, and the characters, even secondary ones, and the sibling dynamics are believable.-Caroline Ward, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2012
Grades 4-6 *Starred Review* Moulton's lovely sophomore novel (following Flutter, 2011) is set in coastal Plumtown, which, with its Main Street and quaint businesses, feels like small-town USA. Against this idyllic backdrop, readers meet spirited Indie Lee Chickoryexpert fish-face maker and Pisces star wisherwho has two plans for her post-fifth-grade summer: to find her lost pet golden lobster, the Lobster Monty Cola, and to become the best Chickory she can bein other words, someone who won't embarrass her popular older sister, Bebe. To accomplish the latter, Indie joins her sister's theater company as a set helper to punk teenager Sloth; for the former, she builds an ocean lookout using the front and back ends of a fishing boat with the help of nerdy, nice Owen Stone. The construction efforts feel like a somewhat implausible undertaking, but the characters' intentionsand their universal kid problemsare completely authentic. Can you remain friends with a boy even though everyone tells you he is a loser? Can you stand up to your same-blood, same-bones sister ? Can wishing on stars bring miracles? This timeless story perfectly captures the growth that summer affords kids when, after endless days and nights, they emerge truer versions of themselves. Readers won't soon forget Miss Indie Lee Chickory.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)