A fascination with herpetology might be a prerequisite for enjoying this middle-grade novel told from the viewpoint of spirited 10-year-old Susquehanna Indiana Reed, who loses her closest friend. A visit to the pet store ends with Sussy and Guy adopting a leopard gecko, whom the pair name Matylda ("With a y so it's all her own," insists Guy), and they quickly cook up a fanciful origin story for their pet. Readers will learn a whole lot about the care and feeding of geckos, until a bike accident leads to Guy's death, and Sussy is left alone with the pet they were supposed to share. We never get a real sense of Guy, loyal paragon that he appears, and Sussy's intense ut, by nature, one-sided tempts to bond with the reptile verge on magical realism. At times, her coping strategies are disturbingly dark, but this tackles grief for the middle-grade set in much the same way as Ali Benjamin's The Thing about Jellyfish (2015). As a simple preadolescent love story, it's refreshing.

Nine-year-old best friends Sussy and Guy have been inseparable since kindergarten. Then tragedy strikes: Guy is killed in an accident. Sussy takes comfort caring for Matylda, the pet leopard gecko the friends shared. She slowly begins to make new friends, but bad decisions (e.g., stealing from the pet store) derail her healing process. A lyrical text tells the emotional story of a grief-stricken girl.

After losing her best friend, a little girl tries to hold on to him by transferring her affection to the pet lizard they shared in picture-book author Hallie Durand's first novel.Ten-year-old, white Sussy (short for Susquehanna) has been best friends with Guy since kindergarten and loves him "more than anything." When Guy suggests they need a pet, they purchase a leopard gecko they name Matylda, imagining the little lizard as a warrior drawn to them by love. Guy has a special connection with Matylda, who clearly responds to him more than Sussy. Everything changes after Guy is killed in a biking accident trying to save Sussy from an attacking dog. Alone, bereft, and filled with guilt, Sussy vows to find a way to love Matylda just as Guy did, since the lizard is all she has left of him. Isolated in her bedroom all summer, wearing the same clothes she wore the day Guy died, Sussy constantly relives the accident and tries to justify stealing special food and toys to earn Matylda's affection. In her own words, Sussy poignantly describes her emotional journey from grief and despair to healing and hope as she learns how to love Matylda in her own way and move on without Guy. McGhee does not flinch from Sussy's overwhelming grief, spinning out long sentences that keep taking her back to the awful truth. A bright and tender novel of love, loss, and survival. (Fiction. 8-12)

Fourth-graders Sussy and Guy are inseparable, sharing everything-including a leopard gecko they name Matylda. Though Matylda seems to prefer Guy, who is unfazed by the fact that she eats live food (and her own old skin), Sussy loves her, too. When Guy dies protecting Sussy, she channels her pain into caring for Matylda, believing the lizard keenly feels Guy-s loss. Driven by her desire to keep Matylda happy and safe, Sussy begins lying and stealing, becoming increasingly reckless as she fails to confront her grief. At its core, this is a sincere, tender story of friendship: Sussy recounts memories of adventures and conversations with Guy, drawing parallels between the friend she desperately misses and the steadfast Matylda. Even Sussy-s thefts serve as a kind of distorted mirror to qualities she admires in Guy and Matylda. Sussy-s deep sorrow hovers at the edges of each page, but McGhee (the author of Dessert First and other books, writing as Hallie Durand) handles the story-s heavy emotions with a light touch, using Sussy-s changing relationship with Matylda and a classmate to provide balance. Ages 8-12. Agent: Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties. (Mar.)