very sweet early chapter book about family and coming into one's own, with a gentle mystery. 

Heartwarming and almost not magical, but in the end very magical. I love it. 

Quite fun!

A story told from 3 points of view, one of which is a house. I love inanimate objects as narrators. And the portaits of the inner lives of children, the interplay of family and school dynamics, just everything is so utterly true. Plus the mean girls are so very mean it's heartbreaking. An ultimately hopeful end for everyone. 

This would make a great read-aloud for a school visit, perhaps k or 1st grade. I love the illustrations, they are striking and use large enough shapes to be seen from a distance. 

Such a great message of resilience and hope, pulled together poetically through a re-reading of repeating words and phrases through peak-through windows in the pages. The illustrations are also really emotional and beautiful.

I want to love this book. Aretha Franklin, the explanation of that point in history with the civil rights movement, great illustrations....but this book doesn't say that the song Respect was written by Otis Redding! I think that a book all about this song and what it means should give credit to it's author, even if they are going to gloss over the whole story of it. 

It's a sweet enough book, but the characters are flat, and there's a "not like all the other girls" brand of feminism that, while I would have applauded it 20 years ago, isn't up to date with modern ideals. The magic was nice, but not complex in any way shape or form. 

I love these illustrations, but i can't help but feel the're a bit lost on the audience. Maybe better for teens than kids? But really, quite gorgeous illustrations.