Leeva at last by Sara Pennypacker

What are people for?  This is the question that Leeva Thornblossom wants to find the answer to.

Her mother is obsessed with fame and her father is equally obsessed with making a fortune.  They are the Mayor and Treasurer of the small town they live in and are very unpopular as they charge more and more taxes and don't look after the citizens of the town.

Leeva is their servant, only born as her mother heard babies helped you become famous, which didn't work so now Leeva has to work to ensure that she isn't costing the family money.  Leeva is eight or nine but isn't sure as no one has ever celebrated her birthday.  Her employee manual prohibits her from leaving the property and although she has found small things that bring her joy, including the word of the week she wants to know what people are for.  

The only people she knows are the people on her parents' TV shows and the ones she observes from her windows, crossing the road to avoid walking past her home.   And then the newspaper mentions school, Leeva hopes that she will be able to attend but her father forbids her but in the process phrases his statement in such a way that Leeva finds a loophole that she uses to visit the library.  This sets off a chain of events that helps Leeva to find answers to her question.  

This book was a great read with a lot of parallels to Matilda and Pollyanna in that Leeva keeps a positive attitude, uses her brain to create workarounds and is helped by the people around her who know who her family is but recognise her as a person in her own right who is not a reflection of her parents.  

This is a brilliant book that would work as a class novel, read aloud or read alone.  It will appeal to a wide range of readers and become a firm favourite. 

Themes: Family, friendship, community, animals.

Mhairi Alcorn