After Iris

June 10, 2013
Twelve-year-old Bluebell Gadsby’s family has been collapsing ever since Blue’s twin sister, Iris, died three years ago. Blue’s father is working on the other side of the country, and their mother is traveling overseas, which leaves new au pair Zoran in charge. Between Blue’s older sister Flora’s rebelliousness, her two younger siblings’ antics, and the family’s pet rats, which live in the garden of their London home, Zoran has his hands full. Each chapter begins with a brief transcript of video diaries filmed by quiet, lonely Blue (“My plan is to record my life through words and images”). Then 16-year-old Joss moves in next door, saving Blue’s social life and becoming her first crush, which is complicated when he begins dating Flora. Literary scout Farrant, making her U.S. debut, balances Blue’s growth with wry humor and light moments (as when the rats make a chaotic visit to Blue’s classroom in remote-control race cars). Blue’s struggles are handled with honesty, and she makes a rewarding journey from observing her life to living it again and accepting what she has lost. Ages 10–up. Agent: Catherine Clarke, Felicity Bryan Associates.

May 15, 2013
In this keenly drawn family drama, Blue, sure that no one else still misses her twin, Iris, turns a camera on her workaholic parents, tempestuous older sister, Flora, and younger siblings Jasmine and Twig, the Babes, who entertain themselves with race-car-driving rats. Blue captures the action in film transcripts and diary entries written in breathless, run-on sentences that reflect the family's spinout. With their parents absent, possibly divorcing, their doctoral-student baby sitter struggles to maintain control. Flora dyes her hair pink, the Babes get lost, and even Blue gets in trouble when a cute bad boy convinces her to seek revenge against a bully with a stunt involving the rats. A typical early adolescent, Blue has a sharp eye but is believably blind to everyone else's sadness. As she comes to terms with her own grief, she grows ever more aware. But it takes another near tragedy to rally the family--although, as readers will have come to expect with this hapless crew, miscommunication and mayhem, even nature itself, almost keep them apart. With her first children's book, Farrant has created a wounded, flawed cast of characters and depicts them with great compassion. The situations are a mix of hilariously funny and poignantly touching. Ultimately, loyalty, forgiveness and love reunite them, and the closing scene is lovely: The camera is turned on Blue, and readers see her laughing. An uplifting, memorable read. (Fiction. 10-14)

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July 1, 2013

Gr 5-8-Bluebell Gadsby's twin died three years ago, and her life has not been the same since. In her quirky British family, her loving parents are absent most of the time and struggling with their own grief; her younger siblings, Twig and Jasmine, are adamant about their interests and wishes; and her older sister, Flora, is trying hard to be sophisticated and rise above the family chaos. Twelve-year-old Blue is obsessed with recording her life; and her narration is a mix of her diary entries and screenplay transcripts from her videos. Reminiscent of Hilary McKay's "Casson Family" series (S & S), this title features an unusual live-in babysitter, a no-nonsense grandmother, and assorted neighbors and school friends who contribute to the idiosyncratic events that the protagonist relates. Blue's pain at the loss of her sister is vivid and heart-wrenching, but never dire. Emotions both drive the plot and provide the humor. Blue has a crush on a neighborhood boy, who in turn is entranced with Flora. While the story is not particularly unique, it contains refreshingly entertaining characters who are sympathetic without being melodramatic. A realistic slice of life that bubbles with wit and charm.-Carol A. Edwards, Denver Public Library, CO

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014
British middle-schooler Blue Gadsby and her siblings live in a world of unrelenting domestic mishap. Behind the foreground rumpus is the shadow story, revealed through flashbacks, of the death three years earlier of Blue's twin sister, Iris. Two new arrivals, Zoran (their overwhelmed babysitter) and Joss (a new boy at school), become the catalysts for the Gadsbys to finally confront their sorrow.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2013
The horticulturally named children of the British Gadsby family -- teenage Flora, little kids Jasmine and Twig, and middle-schooler Bluebell (called Blue) -- live in a world of unrelenting domestic mishap. The Gadsby parents are busy, absent, or neglectful, la Hilary McKay's Casson family novels. Pet rats escape. Characters fall off swings, defenestrate themselves, get lost on the subway, and generally live at top volume and top speed. Somebody is always bleeding. Blue, a budding documentary filmmaker, is our reporter, and she gives us both narration and snippets of screenplay. Behind the foreground rumpus is the shadow story, revealed in a series of flashbacks, of the death of Blue's twin sister, Iris, three years previously. The arrival of two new characters, Zoran (an overwhelmed babysitter and doctoral student) and Joss (the intriguing new boy at school), shakes things up even more and is the catalyst for the Gadsbys to finally confront their sorrow and regroup as a family. The grand finale (which includes a miracle birth -- remember the escaped rats?) is one of the best Christmas scenes ever. sarah ellis

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)