The Adventures of Lettie Peppercorn

Gr 4–6—Twelve-year-old Lettie Peppercorn's "joint best friends" are the wind and a pigeon named Periwinkle. She is the landlady of the White Horse Inn, a run-down building on stilts created by her absent alchemist mother. Money is scarce, since her Da drinks and gambles away their meager funds. Lettie is alone in the Inn except for the Goggler and the Walrus, two demandingly irritating female guests, when a strange, evil man with an icicle beard arrives. His name is Blustav, but he calls himself the Snow Merchant, and he has come to peddle snow to Lettie. He arrives on a boat piloted by a young boy named Noah. The two women and Lettie behold the alchemical creation of snow and think it's diamonds. Lettie now believes her money worries are over, but the nefarious guests plan to steal the Snow Merchant's product for themselves. When Blustav lets slip that he knows the young girl's mother, Lettie and Noah give chase, hoping that the sinister man might lead them to Lettie's missing mom. The tale is peppered with enjoyably ludicrous occurrences: Noah has a green shoot growing out of his shoulder that provides nourishment in times of need, and Blustav turns his enemies into their last meal (Lettie's dad becomes a beer bottle, and the Walrus's head turns into a teapot). Bernatene's atmospheric illustrations are full of intriguingly whimsical characters who add a deeper layer to this imaginatively odd story. Lettie's loving determination to reunite her peculiar family, along with the bevy of magical twists and turns, will keep middle grade fantasy/adventure buffs hooked.