First sentence: I feel bad that I can't remember anything about Gran Nicholas's house. On the table in her kitchen Gran has lined up three things I do not remember: A green stuffed elephant in overalls; a net bag full of black chess pieces; a clunky old tape recorder. "You loved these things when you were here before," Gran Nicholas tells me.
Premise/plot: Livy last visited her Australian grandmother when she was five. She is ten now. She'll be spending a week or two with her grandmother as her mother travels around Australia visiting old friends and showing off her new baby. Livy's genuine memories of her time here before are few and far between. She remembers playing a bump-bump game on the stairs. She thinks she might remember a special chicken that was a bit different than the others. But as she settles in, a few things come back to her. First and foremost there is BOB who is waiting for her in "her" closet. Bob, a "zombie" in a "chicken suit" has been waiting patiently/impatiently for her to return. She's both shocked and overjoyed. How could she have forgotten BOB?! But now that she's older and wiser, she can't help thinking WHAT IS BOB? WHY CAN I SEE HIM? CAN OTHERS SEE HIM TOO? WHERE DOES HE COME FROM? DOES HE HAVE FAMILY?
The chapters alternate between Livy and Bob. Livy is determined to find out all she can about Bob before she has to return to the United States.
My thoughts: I really loved this fantasy novel for young readers. At first I thought Bob might be purely imaginary. That would have been a fun story too, but, this wasn't that story. There is a definite mystery surrounding Bob. And Livy has quite a task ahead of her. I loved both narratives.
© 2018 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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