FOREVER ROSE
by Hilary McKay
The utterly beguiling tale of four children named for paint colors and their artist parents concludes in the most engaging way possible one December—all told in 11-year-old Permanent Rose’s distinctive voice. The oldest, Caddy, only calls home occasionally, for reasons unknown. Brother Indigo’s friend David moves his entire drum kit into the Cassons’ blissfully chaotic home. Saffy escapes briefly to her friend Sarah’s, whose Goth demeanor shines forth from her wheelchair. It is left to Rose to worry about the presents, the tree, her evil teacher Mr. Spencer, Class 1’s Christmas pageant and her best friends Molly and Kiran’s secret plans for the holiday trip to the zoo. Rosy Pose is preternaturally perspicacious, saying luminous things about the making of art (Rose is very much an artist), the joys of reading (Rose finally Gets It, via The Once and Future King) and the ways families work (“Mummy lives in the [painting] shed, Daddy appears and disappears like the moon...”). It ends in a burst of Christmas happiness, with one terribly flawed character finding some redemption at last. Simply lovely. (Fiction. 10-14)