Matylda, Bright and Tender
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Sussy and Guy are best friends, fourth-graders who share their silliest thoughts and deepest hopes. One afternoon, the two of them decide they must have something of their very own to love. After a trip to the pet store, they bring home a spotted lizard, the one with the ancient face and starfish toes, and they name her Matylda (with a y so it’s all her own). With Guy leading the way, they feed her and give her an origin story fit for a warrior lizard. A few weeks later, on a simple bike ride, there is a terrible accident. As hard as it is, Sussy is sure she can hold on to Guy if she can find a way to love Matylda enough. But in a startling turn of events, Sussy reconsiders what it means to grieve and heal and hope and go on, for her own sake and Matylda’s. By turns both devastating and buoyant, this story is a brave one, showing how far we can justify going for a real and true friend.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fourth-graders Sussy and Guy are inseparable, sharing everything including a leopard gecko they name Matylda. Though Matylda seems to prefer Guy, who is unfazed by the fact that she eats live food (and her own old skin), Sussy loves her, too. When Guy dies protecting Sussy, she channels her pain into caring for Matylda, believing the lizard keenly feels Guy's loss. Driven by her desire to keep Matylda happy and safe, Sussy begins lying and stealing, becoming increasingly reckless as she fails to confront her grief. At its core, this is a sincere, tender story of friendship: Sussy recounts memories of adventures and conversations with Guy, drawing parallels between the friend she desperately misses and the steadfast Matylda. Even Sussy's thefts serve as a kind of distorted mirror to qualities she admires in Guy and Matylda. Sussy's deep sorrow hovers at the edges of each page, but McGhee (the author of Dessert First and other books, writing as Hallie Durand) handles the story's heavy emotions with a light touch, using Sussy's changing relationship with Matylda and a classmate to provide balance. Ages 8 12.)
