  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 09/01/2017 *Starred Review* The inimitable Horvath’s latest blends history, magic, and realism with a heavy dose of whimsy. WWII brings small changes to bucolic Vancouver Island, where 12-year-old Franny lives with her adoptive parents, Sina and Old Tom. The biggest change comes in the form of the sudden arrival of three siblings: Winifred, Wilfred, and Zebediah. Concerned that all is not well with their father at the nearby military base, their mother dumps them on Sina and Old Tom, upending Franny’s quiet writing time. Toss in the incompetent chef Gladys, mysterious letters from the sibling’s father, and a night garden that can grant each person only one wish, and Horvath has quite the story going. Eschewing literary convention, Horvath does not locate Franny at the helm of these adventures. Like the readers, Franny is a participant in the happenings, and this positioning lends a more leisurely pace to the novel. Though that may narrow the story’s appeal, Horvath infuses her novel with such heart, zest, and humor in the small moments that she’s created a book her devoted fan base will cherish. Notably, the denizens of Vancouver Island have a delicious lack of separation between adult and child—all are wholeheartedly curious, beautifully flawed, and deeply amusing. Perfect for fans of Jeanne Birdsall’s Penderwicks books or Trenton Lee Stewart’s Mysterious Benedict Society series. - Copyright 2017 Booklist. School Library Journal - 10/01/2017 Gr 4–6—World War II hasn't affected 12-year-old Franny's rustic, idyllic life on Vancouver Island, BC. While her mother Sina sculpts, she writes and explores the many gardens tended by her father, Old Tom. But there is one garden he forbids Franny to enter: the ancient night garden. Legend says that a person can make one wish while in the night garden and it will come true, but that wish cannot be undone. Contented Franny has little interest in wishes until the family's peace is disrupted: a neighbor suddenly leaves her three children with Sina while she goes off to prevent her husband, a mechanic who works on top-secret military planes, from doing "something terrible." The neighbor kids and Franny become embroiled in the mystery surrounding the mechanic when letters from him arrive containing ominous clues to his intent. The children see the night garden as their only chance to help, so they defy Old Tom and test the garden's legend. Franny's first-person narration, rich with droll insights, balances the plot's tension and reveals her awareness of the extraordinary magic that envelops her farm, "alive and breathing with suppressed something." National Book Award winner Horvath writes with accessible eloquence, making what would be fantastical in another setting quite plausible on this island populated with whimsical, winsome characters. VERDICT Thoughtful, hilarious, and moving; repeated readings reveal even more to appreciate in this superbly crafted tale. An essential purchase for all middle grade collections.—Marybeth Kozikowski, Sachem Public Library, Holbrook, NY - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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