Once for Yes
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From the author of the national bestseller, Olivetti, praised by Tom Hanks as "a great favor" for readers.
This heartfelt novel celebrates the healing power of community and the endurance of love, perfect for fans of Kate DiCamillo and Peter Brown.
The Odenburgh, an old apartment building made of brick and blunt opinions, is the last of its kind in a swiftly changing neighborhood. After years of putting up with people and their many problems, the Odenburgh knows there’s no point in getting attached. They all just leave eventually. A truth that comes all too soon when the building is sold and slated for demolition, giving tenants a month to move out.
No one is more troubled by the news than eleven-year-old Prue, who refuses to leave her family’s apartment. Not when it was the last place she lived with her sister Lina, before she lost Lina forever. When Prue launches a plan to save their home, the Odenburgh joins in—flickering lights, jamming elevators, triggering fire alarms—all to try and bring a building full of bickering residents together. In the process, Prue meets Lewis, an eccentric boy who lives across the street—and the only one who can help her discover the missing elements of her sister’s story.
Heartfelt and bursting with a community of unique characters, Once For Yes is a testament to the endurance of love and the people we carry with us, wherever we go.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A nondescript, nearly 50-year-old apartment building named the Odenburgh helps narrate this gentle novel about grief by Millington (Olivetti). The Odenburgh knows better than to become attached to its tenants. Yet it can't help but listen when 11-year-old Prue Laroe performs what she calls the Tub-Night Show into her apartment's landline. Prue used to host the imaginary comedy routine with her older sisters Fifi and Lina—and then Lina was killed in a traffic accident in front of the building. Now Prue uses the disconnected telephone to chat with her deceased sister and avoid her family's mourning. When Prue learns that the apartment building has been sold and is set for demolition, she's heartbroken and furious. Her anguish prompts the Odenburgh to flick its lights on and off in solidarity, a phenomenon that Prue believes is Lina communicating with her through the structure. She joins forces with Lewis, an anxious boy from across the street, and resolves to unite the other tenants to save their home. Chapters swiftly alternate between the perspectives of the Odenburgh, Prue, Lewis, and other apartment dwellers, imparting a bustling tone. Flowery language occasionally detracts from the story's emotional core. Main characters read as white. Ages 8–12.
