5/15/2023 0 Comments Junonia by Kevin Henkes![]() ![]() The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement. ![]() ![]() An only child surrounded by affection, routine and attention, Alice has the space to realize that life can be an adventure experienced independently, even while held closely by those one loves. The author’s own drawings grace the cover and chapter openings the overall book design is elegant and supremely comfortable for middle-grade readers. The third-person narration offers a sense of depth and story beyond the borders of the novel itself, providing distance enough for readers to draw their own conclusions. Henkes’ deceptively economical language is rich and complex, cognizant of the ways that the world of adults reveals itself to children, aware of the emotional weight of objects. Alice’s longed-for find, a prized junonia mollusk shell, never quite materializes as expected. This year, as she turns 10, the expected holiday company varies just enough to feel odd and challenging: The neighboring Wishmeiers’ grandchildren didn’t come another neighbor is snowbound in New York “aunt” Kate arrives with a new boyfriend and his six-year-old daughter in tow. ![]() Every year, Alice celebrates her birthday week in February with her parents in a cottage on the beach in Sanibel, far from her snowy Wisconsin home. ![]()
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