Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts

February 8, 2016
Technically, the Fitzgerald-Trout children are stepsiblings, but in this quirky series kickoff—a sort of modern-day answer to the Boxcar Children—family is family. Abandoned by their various parents, Kim, Kimo, Pippa, and Toby live in a parked car on an unnamed tropical island, a setting that comes alive with its lush beaches and to-be-avoided forest filled with poisonous iguanas. Their mothers—one a wildly vain country singer, the other a stockbroker “so greedy that she wore diamonds all over herself”—stop by occasionally to give the children (barely) enough money to get by. But they are outgrowing the car and need a more permanent home. The Fitzgerald-Trouts’ struggle to find stability feels urgent throughout, but Spalding, a poet and screenwriter making her children’s book debut, balances the direness of their situation with over-the-top characters and humor-driven narration. If the story’s magic lies in its Dahl-esque approach to topics like homelessness and parental neglect, its heart lies in the relationship between these four mutually devoted children. Art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Jackie Kaiser, Westwood Creative Artists. Illustrator’s agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management.