Sara Pennypacker (text) and Matthew Cordell (illustrator), Leeva at Last, HarperCollins Publishers, May 2023, 320 pp., RRP $16.95 (pbk), ISBN 9780008606190
The first thing that leaped out at me when I read Leeva At Last was that here was a book that fans of Matilda would love. Quirky, funny narrative with sidelong glances at the reader? Check. Oddball, larger than life characters and situations? Absolutely. A delightful, smart, young heroine with a passion for justice, learning how to fight for what’s right, and find the people that truly appreciate her? Leeva is that heroine in spades.
Leeva is beyond excited when she reads in the paper that a new school has been built in town. Finally, she can go out in the world! Her only question is, why haven’t her parents told her about it? Maybe they’re planning to surprise her.
The big surprise for Leeva is that they’re not going to send her to school at all. Does school make you famous? Does school make you money? Why would Leeva want to be with people? What are people for anyway? In search of the answer to that question, Leeva climbs through the hedge into the driveway of the library next door, and sets off a chain of events that might just change the whole town.
This book is full of librarians, books, badgers and cookies, and characters that would do Roald Dahl proud, and I enjoyed the dramatic turns the story took from start to finish. The chapters were perfectly bite-sized for bedtime reading, or classroom storytelling, and are going to bring a smile and a giggle to readers aged 8 and up to adult.
Leeva’s parents, as the greedy mayor and treasurer of Nutsmore, are drawn with the broad strokes of caricature that allow readers to see how horrible they are while still walking the line of humour, and there is a real joy in watching Leeva create her found family and find a place where she feels she truly belongs. Her story revolves around seeking out the importance of community and friendship, questioning the assumptions that her parents have left her with, and learning that while she may not be able to choose how she grew up, she can certainly choose to do things differently than her parents have.
That is, at the core, what Leeva At Last is about – Children do not have to turn out like their parents, do the same things they did. If they want to, they may. If not, they can decide not to. Leeva is smart, and kind, and finds out that she’s also brave and resourceful. How she chooses to use those traits to right the many wrongs her parents have enacted on the town of Nutsmore makes a delightful and charmingly funny story that I didn’t want to put down, but I was cheering for Leeva and her friends every step of the way.
Reviewed by Emily Clarke
