UP SO FLOATING

A girl who’s endured tragedy is convinced that winning a talent show will bring much-needed grace to her life in Hourihan’s debut middle-grade novel.

It’s no surprise that 11-year-old Montura “Monty” Moriarty misses her cherished late mother. That could be why she’s failing her term at All Saints School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Monty doesn’t believe she has any talent to show off at the school’s upcoming talent show, but she changes her tune when the event’s flyer promises that grace—the stuff needed to get your soul to Heaven—will “befall” the winning four-person team. Now, she must persuade three fellow students to each recite a poem while dressed as a celebrated poet. Her choices aren’t ideal: her reluctant best friend Danny, resident bad boy Leon (Monty is crushing on him so hard that he may prove distracting), and Sandra, whom Monty initially picks because she’s Danny’s crush. Monty grows close to Sandra, a warmhearted girl who suffers from arthritis, the “kind that only kids get.” But Sandra’s worsening condition soon dredges up memories of Monty’s mother that Monty simply doesn’t want to remember. Hourihan’s story boasts an endearing, sympathetic protagonist. Monty constantly questions things around her, like why it seems that only men have places named after them. She looks at herself, too, and strives to amend any missteps she’s made on her way to earning grace. Monty is so charming (and Hourihan’s prose is so pithy) that all of her exchanges with others shine, from Danny and Sandra to the school’s critical nuns. The best scenes involve Monty’s Lebanese/French “upstairs relatives” at home, whose scenes bring an endlessly entertaining fusion of overlapping languages and food aromas. They serve as a reminder that, while Monty is hurting, she’s surrounded by goofy, always lovable family and friends. Graham’s black-and-white artwork creates sublime narrative snapshots, both ‘real’ (the town sign) and imagined (a flying elephant).

This wonderful depiction of adolescence is as winsome as it is profound.