Sneak Thief

January 1, 2018

Gr 4-6-Hush lives with her mother in a trailer park on the edge of town. Food is scarce and her mother's endless stream of bad boyfriends makes Hush's world dangerous. She doesn't regularly attend school and she spends her days fending for herself and sneak-thieving. The compulsion to steal objects is something Hush is ashamed of and tries unsuccessfully to ignore, especially because she's often tempted to steal things like dental floss and candlesticks and not practical items such as food and toiletries. When Hush and her mother have an altercation, the girl's urge to steal is so strong that she is more careless than usual, gets caught, and the secrets of her home life are revealed to local law enforcement. Hush is placed with a foster mother and begins to thrive in her new home. She also discovers a magical gift: the ability to see pain. The pain appears to her as wiggling flashes of light that she plucks away and stores in a mason jar. At first, she is happy to help relieve the pain of the people around her, but then the protagonist starts to fear her gift when she realizes that pain can be a teacher and that the absence of it can be harmful. Readers spend much of the story in Hush's head as she struggles to survive her home life, control her compulsion to steal, and hold on to a new best friend. The setting and the dialogue is infused with Southern flavor, making this book a solid read-alike for Natalie Lloyd's A Snicker of Magic and Sheila Turnage's Three Times Lucky. VERDICT This character-centered story offers readers a unique perspective on a tough life with a hopeful conclusion; recommended for most collections.-Samantha Lumetta, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2017
A 12-year-old delinquent discovers healing powers in Harkey's second book set in a magical, quaint Southern town.Belle Cantrell, better known as Hush, lives in 'Bagoville, a derelict RV park outside the seemingly mostly white community of Sass, Georgia. She makes a habit of stealing small items from stores but declines to help her abusive mother's angry boyfriend take part in real crime. When she's caught, local folks send her to live with a pregnant gardener, Mabel, instead of juvie. It's then that Hush discovers that she can see people's pain, manifest as small red worms she dubs "pain imps," and by removing them, heal people. Only sometimes pain is a warning signal, and so Hush's good intentions backfire. The magical realism falls short here not because of the magic, but because the rest of the story feels false from the very beginning, when a girl Hush has never met before becomes her instant friend, all the way to the contrived resolution between Hush and her shockingly terrible mother. Hush's problems are portrayed as simultaneously truly awful and easily cured; child readers with difficult backgrounds will recognize the inherent falsehood. Furthermore, Hush's first-person Southern-isms are overdone to the point of stereotype, and her voice seldom feels authentic.Lacking on several levels. (Fiction. 8-12)

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February 15, 2018
Grades 4-7 When Hush Cantrell is in the grip of her loco, there's no stopping her sneak-thieving hands. Batteries, measuring spoons, candlesit doesn't matter what it is, so long as it ends up in her pocket. A loner and child of neglect, Hush is completely unprepared when a girl her age, Desiree, decides to befriend her. On a reckless visit to a boutique, Hush is arrested for stealing, and it's Desiree's family that comes to her rescue, staving off juvie with a live-in summer internship. But being placed in a supportive home isn't the only magic Hush experiences. While there, she begins to see pain imps physical or emotional painson people and develops the ability to remove them. From page one, Hush is an interesting and earnest protagonist, whose struggles to reform, forgive, and understand the responsibilities of her healing magic will captivate readers. Harkey's small Georgia town bursts with colorful characters and twangy colloquialisms, adding to the novel's eclectic vibe. Hand this to fans of Ingrid Law's Savvy books, or those seeking character-driven stories brushed with magic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)