ALA Booklist (Tue May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

Abandoned by her mother, 11-year-old Stella now lives on Cape Cod with her great-aunt Louise, who has taken in another foster child, Angel, as well. When Louise dies suddenly, the two girls bury her body in the garden and attempt to hide her death, fearing what will happen to them. Smart and diligent, if not friendly toward each other, the two girls form an uneasy alliance that gradually becomes a more lasting bond as they work together to hide their secret. Most memorable for the vivid scene in which the girls find Louise's body, this first-person novel is written from Stella's point of view. Though events strain credibility at times, the dialogue is convincing and the narrative drive is strong. The attractive book jacket, portraying two girls at the seaside, makes the novel look lighter than perhaps it should, given that Pennypacker's fans connect her with the Clementine books and the series reviving Jeff Brown's Flat Stanley, both for younger readers.

School Library Journal Starred Review (Tue May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

Gr 4-6 Ever since the death of her beloved grandmother, 11-year-old Stella has battled to maintain a sense of stability, to "clutch hold" to the spinning Earth. She explains that an unknown father and a terminally irresponsible mother have made her "personal gravity" "a little weak" and left her feeling rootless. Her anxiety is just beginning to lessen now that she shares a Cape Cod home with her taciturn Great-Aunt Louise and a foster girl named Angel whom Stella considers like "a cactus&30;all spines." Pennypacker beautifully illuminates Stella's physical experience with vivid, unfussy prose, allowing readers to feel her nervousness and longing and her vigorous commitment to cleanliness and order (she even identifies a folder of hints from Heloise as her most precious possession). When Louise dies suddenly, Stella and Angel secretly bury the body in order to stay in her house, managing the vacation cottage colony next door and surviving on tourists' leftovers, in hopes of buying time for each girl's desired caregiver to provide a suitable home. The book effectively evokes the gritty, sun-bleached textures and salt breezes of its seaside setting, a vacationlike contrast to the strenuous, desperate independence of the two girls. The understanding and emotional bond that grows between them develops with believable fluctuations and a light touch, as does the suspense of how long two kids can continue alone without being caught or getting a ride to the grocery store. Pennypacker's marvelously tactile writing animates Stella's narration and brings both engaging, resilient, and resourceful characters to life.— Robbin E. Friedman, Chappaqua, NY

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Desperate times call for desperate measures indeed when, one summer afternoon on Cape Cod, 11-year-old Stella finds her sole caretaker, her great-aunt Louise, dead in her chair. Stella, who's been abandoned by her mom, and Louise's 12-year-old foster child Angel know the second they call 911 they'll be hauled off by the authorities… and the thought of having to leave a good home for who knows where is too much to bear. So they bury Louise in the garden. The suspense escalates. How long will Stella and Angel be able to keep Louise's death a secret in a small community? Will dogs dig up the body? Will the girls be able to pull off the task of assuming Louise's duties as manager of the Linger Longer Cottage Colony? How long can they survive eating relish, stale croutons and "Froot Loop dust"? The unfolding story is both deliciously intense and entertaining. Stella, an order-seeking girl whose oracle is Heloise (of hint fame), not only knows how to keep a corpse from smelling (Febreze), she employs old pantyhose and Crisco to keep the gypsy moths off Louise's beloved blueberry bushes. Stella's poetic, philosophical observations of the world are often genuinely moving, and tough-on-the-outside Angel is her perfect foil. A suspenseful, surprising novel of friendship and family from the creator of the popular Clementine series. (Fiction. 9-12)

Horn Book (Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

Stella's great-aunt Louise tends vacation cottages on Cape Cod. When her mother takes off (again), Stella ends up there, as does foster kid Angel. After Louise dies unexpectedly, the girls bury the body in the backyard and take over managing the cottages. Stella and Angel are equally annoying and endearing, and readers will cheer them on to the fully predictable and satisfying ending.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Desperate times call for desperate measures indeed when, one summer afternoon on Cape Cod, 11-year-old Stella finds her sole caretaker, her great-aunt Louise, dead in her chair. Stella, who's been abandoned by her mom, and Louise's 12-year-old foster child Angel know the second they call 911 they'll be hauled off by the authorities… and the thought of having to leave a good home for who knows where is too much to bear. So they bury Louise in the garden. The suspense escalates. How long will Stella and Angel be able to keep Louise's death a secret in a small community? Will dogs dig up the body? Will the girls be able to pull off the task of assuming Louise's duties as manager of the Linger Longer Cottage Colony? How long can they survive eating relish, stale croutons and "Froot Loop dust"? The unfolding story is both deliciously intense and entertaining. Stella, an order-seeking girl whose oracle is Heloise (of hint fame), not only knows how to keep a corpse from smelling (Febreze), she employs old pantyhose and Crisco to keep the gypsy moths off Louise's beloved blueberry bushes. Stella's poetic, philosophical observations of the world are often genuinely moving, and tough-on-the-outside Angel is her perfect foil. A suspenseful, surprising novel of friendship and family from the creator of the popular Clementine series. (Fiction. 9-12)