No Hard Feelings

Gr 2-4–It’s been four months since Twig’s family downsized to a tiny house in Happy Trails, CO. Twig, who is eight, and sister Turtle, who’s six, have happily settled into their new home and school—so Twig is unprepared to deal with feelings of being left out when two friends don’t include her in their plans. Her loving parents devise an amusing game involving the entire family to help the sisters learn to cope with rejection and disappointment. Twig’s first-person narrative rings true, and occasionally formatting her thoughts as bullet points helps young readers grasp their importance. Jacobson’s repeated references to pro-environmental themes lack subtlety. Franco’s greyscale spot art represents Twig’s family as white, with diversity among friends and classmates. The format is ideally designed to encourage independent readers, with 17 lines of text per page and chapters that average 10 pages. Vocabulary doesn’t get more challenging than bureau and commotion.