  | Apartment house on Poppy Hill (Apartment House On Poppy Hill) Author: LaCour, Nina | |
| Price: $20.48 | ||
Summary:
Nine-year-old Ella considers herself the official greeter, tour guide, and is generally in charge of 1106 Wildflower Place, but the elusive Robinsons who live on the top floor are a mystery--one which Ella is determined to solve, and bring the elderly couple into the community of the apartment building on Poppy Hill.
| Illustrator: | Albert, Sonia |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (08/15/23)
School Library Journal (11/01/23)
Booklist (09/01/23)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 09/01/2023 Though only nine, Ella is an expert on everything related to her Poppy Hill home. Located in a whimsical Victorian with a view of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, Ella’s apartment is on the middle floor, where she lives with her moms, and it provides her with an excellent view of the young couple (Leo and Cleo) moving into the unit below. She can barely contain her excitement to meet them and give them a tour of the building and shared garden. LaCour’s new transitional chapter-book series is cozy and classic-feeling as it reveals the lives of 1106 Wildflower Place’s inhabitants—some eccentric, some secretive, but all kind. Precocious Ella’s curiosity and gregariousness are infectious, and she’ll easily sweep readers into her charming world. The book contains three stories divided into short chapters adorned with grayscale illustrations. Ella’s intergenerational friendships with all of her neighbors (she’s the only kid) and the understated inclusion of LGBTQIA+ couples only add to the book’s bigheartedness. An ideal pick for graduates of Kate DiCamillo’s Tales from Deckawoo Drive. - Copyright 2023 Booklist.
School Library Journal - 11/01/2023 Gr 1–3—Printz Award—winning author LaCour is best known for her young adult novels that handle sensitive themes, such as teenage suicide, grief, queer love, hope, mental health, and loss. The author's foray into chapter books takes on lighter themes of time and its passing, family, community, inclusion, and the mindfulness of noticing things. Smart, curious, nine-year-old Ella is deeply involved in everyday happenings in the charming old pink Victorian house at 1106 Wildflower Place, San Francisco. Living there are the mysterious and rarely seen older couple, the Robinsons, long-time residents of the top floor. Ella and her two mothers share the middle floor with interracial gay couple Jacques and Merlan, and in the two ground floor apartments are Matilda, an artist, and the new neighbors, Leo and Cleo. Ella is determined to help the new neighbors settle into their unconventional household, and maybe meet the Robinsons along the way. Albert's drawings of people and things alluded to in the plot function as accents and aren't designed to move the story along. Readers will appreciate the simple, chapter-driven format of third-person narration with its appropriate vocabulary. Each speaker is clearly identified, and children should have no problem jumping back into the story if their reading is interrupted. VERDICT A worthwhile purchase that tells a pleasant, inclusive story populated by characters who represent a variety of backgrounds and identities and who come from diverse walks of life.—Cheryl Blevens - Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
