If you like Roald Dahl’s Matilda, you’re sure to enjoy Leeva at Last by Sara Pennypacker!
Leeva’s parents, in a perfectly Roald Dahl-esque way are impossibly cruel. They have all kinds of rules for Leeva. She can’t go to school; in fact she isn’t even permitted to step out of her yard.
When, one day, she breaks through the hedge around her yard and makes her way to the library that lies just beyond, a whole world opens for her. A world that is in equal parts fascinating and terrifying.
Leeva is a lovely character with a question she must answer. The best place to find answers is, of course, a library. And she slowly does find answers to that impossible question: What are people for? As she meets more people (secretly, of course, for her parents must never know that she steps out), she finds more answers.
At the same time, though, she discovers how much people hate her mother the Mayor and her father the Treasurer. She struggles with guilt—is she responsible for things her parents have done? If she tells people who she is, would they continue to care for her?
At its core, Leeva at Last is the story of a child who wants to be loved. As she goes out on her quest, she makes a motley set of friends, including a badger—and who ever heard of a child and a badger going on an adventure together? Whimsical and charming, I loved Leeva’s story. It’s simple, utterly impossible and perfectly delightful.
| Title | Leeva at Last |
| Author | Sara Pennypacker |
| Tags | Whimsical, Early Middle Grade |
| Rating (out of 5) | 4.5 |
| Ages | 9+ |
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