by Eileen Spinelli
ages: 9+
First sentence: “I am on the front lawn making snow angels with Albert Poole.”
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This is a sweet little novel in verse. Although it addresses some deep issues: parents separating, homelessness, friendship, it does so in a very unassuming way. It’s hardly angst-ridden, or even very sad; it’s very much the way you assume it will be from the cover and title: it’s a world where everything will work out, if you just give it time.

The winter Bindi is eleven, her father leaves. She doesn’t think much of it, until her mom and aunt and uncle start saying things like “he’s not coming back” and “we need time apart”. Then her mom sells the house and opens a restaurant, moving them into the apartment above. None of this meets with Bindi’s approval, and she spends the bulk of the story just learning to accept her new life without being a complete grump about it.

There really isn’t much else to say about this. It was nice. The illustrations, I felt, were almost superfluous, and distracting: I had a picture of Bindi in my mind and the illustrations kept distracting me from it. I’m not sure if there was a moral — perhaps just hang on through the tough times? — but it felt like the sort of book that wanted to have one. The characters were nice, but not really gripping. The situations were fun, but not really moving. And so, in the end, it was just kind of nice and sweet but not quite much else. (Kind of like pancakes, huh?)