A CASTLE ON VIOLA STREET

A reassuring teaching story about a new home in a neighborhood that readers will recognize from DiSalvo’s earlier work (Grandpa’s Corner Store, 2000) with the spirit of her City Green (1994). In the old days, says Andy, he and his parents and sisters lived in a tiny apartment that was never quite warm enough. On Saturday mornings he and his sister would take a pile of quarters and brown-bag lunches and go to the Soap & Go on Viola Street to do the family’s laundry. He learns that the boarded-up houses across the street from the Laundromat are being purchased and renovated, and families interested could assist in the work and then be in line for a house themselves. Andy and his parents work hard every weekend for a house that the Tran family moves into; then they learn that the next house to be renovated the following spring will be theirs. A note explains the Habitat for Humanity “sweat equity” program and names other programs that help people get their own homes. Once again, DiSalvo has focused on the value of community, this one populated with a variety of ethnicities. Andy’s is a little less distinctive, but it could be Italian or Latino. Warm colors enrich the cityscape vistas of laundromat, streets, and interiors reflecting the glow of shared efforts. Rewarding. (Picture book. 5-8)