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Reviewed by: Lisa Rice, Middle School Librarian Title: Leeva at Last
Author: Sara Pennypacker Illustrator: Matthew Cordell
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Year: 2023 Good for Grades: 4-6 Genre/Type of Book: J fiction, humor, family, realistic fiction, books about libraries and librarians
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: cruel parents
Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: The cover illustration was adorable! And is that a badger!? The characters looking out the windows seemed fun, plus it was a signed copy! Should that make a difference? No. Did it? Yes.
If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be:
What are people for? Also, from Osmund on page 72: "Life is a hazardous material."
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Review:
I really enjoyed this quirky book that reminded me of Matilda! It is full of quirky, humorous, and cringy characters. I love that it opens with a table of contents with names of chapters. I wish more authors did this. I think it is fun to have students make a prediction about the upcoming chapter based on the name of it. It is fun to hear the predictions students make and it increases engagement. If you feel down (it is January), it might be worth picking up this book just to look at the illustrations! They will make you smile- not only does Caldecott medalist Cordell do a great job portraying the characters and how they are feeling but the drawing of the animals in the book are a guarantee to make you smile, and thankfully, there is a cute dog, a whole roomful of cats, and an adorable Cheezaroni-eating badger to look at! The chapters are relatively short, making it easier for a classroom or library read aloud. While the book is a little over 300 pages, hopefully not deterring some middle school readers, I found it to be a fairly quick read. While I personally love the cover of this book, it does look a little "elementary" and I think some of my middle schooler will pass on it. For students who are young enough to appreciate the adorable cover, the length of the book (a little over 300 pages), might be a deterrent (but hopefully not).
I also enjoyed the fact that eight- or nine-year-old Leeva (she is not really sure of her age as her birthday is never celebrated) reads real books that we all know, for example, The Golden Compass, thereby promoting those books for middle school readers. There is a lot of focus on building vocabulary as Leeva likes discussing words. I can see an ELA teacher building a word wall with the words Leeva likes. And the cookies! Mrs. Flowers, the librarian, likes to bake cookies and sends Leeva on adventures to get the ingredients for the cookies. You too will want to stop and bake cookies- Guatemalan champurradas, apricot oatmeal, orange biscotti, almond butter balls with a tart orange jellybean on top. If you are going to use this as a read aloud, it only seems fair to bake some cookies to go along with Leeva's snack time with Harry!
A recurring question that Leeva asks in the book is, "What are people for?" Leeva's mom, Mrs. Thornblossom, and the town's mayor, would say "fame" and lives her life accordingly (Her philosophy is, "Fame is the most powerful power there is!"), pursuing fame and ignoring Leeva. Mr. Thornblossom would say, "money" and lives his life pursuing money and being the town's treasurer and ignoring Leeva. This is an interesting discussion to have with middle schoolers (What are people for?) and I can see this discussion leading to activities that tie into Character Strong. Truly, Leeva's parents are awful, self-absorbed and border on abusive- they don't even realize she has run away from home. Leeva's mom can't be bothered wasting time picking out a name for her first born, as she is "too famous." The nurse insists that she must name her child and tells her, "A first name on this line, a middle name next. Leave a space. (p.40)" And that's how she got her name. Leeva Spayce - the nurse "prettied it up" for her.
I love the love shown to libraries and librarians in this book! Mrs. Flowers, the librarian, says she doesn't miss the books, she misses "handing exactly the right book at the right time to the right person and saying, THIS one. (p.35)" I think we can relate to that! Leeva escapes to the library and uses it as her sanctuary. In fact, for a short time, she lives in the library drop box. When Leeva comes clean that she is actually a Thornblossom, Mrs. Flowers responds, "Of course I knew, I am a librarian!" and Harry responds, "Sure, I knew, I am a librarian's nephew! (p.192)" There are some funny parts (probably only amusing to librarians) when it is discussed whether or not cookbooks belong in the fiction or nonfiction section of the library. It was decided both. There aren't many books featuring a somewhat pesky badger ("You never heard of a goodger, did you? (p.36)" and "for the first time in the history of the world, a badger became part of somebody's plan (p.225)" and unwittingly saves the day, in a somewhat roundabout way. I think Bob the badger will have animal lovers cheering him on as he does his badger things.
I really liked this book and I think it is perfect for grades 4 and 5 and I am keeping it in my 6-8 library as I think there are some readers for this book here too. I thought it was a great first read of the year with a lot of positive messages and reminders for all age levels.
Number of party hats:
Find resources for Abandon Ship! at Teachingbooks.net
For more information about this book, see the Publisher's Website