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135 pp.
| Pixel+Ink
| October, 2020
|
Trade
ISBN 978-1-64595-021-9
$14.99
|
Paper
ISBN 978-1-64595-022-6
$6.99
(
2)
1-3
Illustrated by
Paula Franco.
HGTV meets the early-chapter-book set in this series starter featuring sisters Twig and Turtle. The girls' parents decide to move from their large home in Boston to Happy Trails, Colorado, and purchase a "tiny house" that will allow them to, in third grader Twig's words, save "money and...the earth at the same time." Their living conditions impose some limits: the girls must respect personal space; give others privacy; and reduce clothing to three pairs of pants, three shirts, and two pairs of shoes. But the biggest issue is that there is no room for Bo, a Great Dane whom Twig loves with all her heart but who had to be left with the girls' grandmother, creating a situation that forms the story's arc and demands some straightforward problem-solving. The solution is a creative but believable one, arrived at through Twig's resolve and the help of her classmates. Twig's adjustment to a new school rings true; half-page illustrations appear every five pages or so to nicely break up the reading; the language is natural; and Jacobson's repeated use of bulleted lists helps group multiple ideas. Twig's engaging narration introduces characters many newly independent readers will want to know better.
Reviewer:
Betty Carter
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
July, 2020