Peachaloo
By Chris Raschka
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection
"Excellent. . . . Raschka’s prose is charming, written in a rural deadpan reminiscent of Kate DiCamillo, and the accompanying drawings are comical and oddball, like many of the novel’s eccentric characters."
—The New York Times
★"Raschka draws on his inner teen and grown-up as well as his inner child for this wry tale of a town whose values and customs are threatened by a ruthless real-estate developer . . .The strength of small-town stories like this is nearly always in the cast, and here the author ropes in a lively one, pitting Gasbag against 12-year-old summer visitor Peachaloo Piccolozampa at the head of a supporting group that ranges from her indomitable grandmother Helena to a mysterious pair of bank robbers disguised as men. The plot is enriched by jump-rope rhymes, a climactic natural disaster, and enough meticulously detailed rehearsal and performance scenes for a town play to satisfy the most rabid young thespians. Still, it’s Peachaloo—able to hear what people really mean underneath what they say—who really owns this beguiling story, and who is left at the end floating in the restored pond, thinking big thoughts. Fourwords’ small-town characters and character come alive in the frequent black-and-white sketches."
—Booklist, Starred Review
"Rambling omniscient narration from an observant, good-humored townsperson imparts a cozy atmosphere. . . . Loose blackline illustrations by Caldecott Medalist Raschka depict the eclectic small-town cast with fluid forms."
—Publishers Weekly
"[A] rollicking, digressive, and (unsurprisingly given Raschka’s work as an illustrator) highly visually descriptive novel. . . . In a dramatic conclusion . . . Peachaloo gains confidence, and order is restored in proper comic fashion."
—The Horn Book
"Eccentricity abounds in this fantastical underdog tale of natural and historical preservation."
—Kirkus Reviews