Fourth-grader Riley is a kid who loves lots of things: their parents, cousins, friends, all kinds of animals, making cool stuff (as well as messes), and being nonbinary. In this volume of the early chapter book series by Jay Albee (a pen name for Jen Breach and J. Anthony), Riley is helping their Mama with a fundraiser so the library where she works can fix its broken elevator. The event’s silent auction will feature a book cover painted by Riley’s dad for a famous but secretive author’s series that all the adults seem to love.
Riley and friends Cricket and Lea help decorate for the event and explore normally off-limits parts of the library. But Riley has lost an overdue book and tries to avoid the notice of a librarian who is a stickler about such things. At the party itself, though, Riley and friends enjoy the snacks and help a shy younger child feel at ease. Several of the adult guests express their love of the famous author’s series. But who is the mysterious guest who bid on their dad’s painting?
A few parts of the narrative could have used refining. The friends’ exploration of the “Library of Things” room feels unconnected to the main storyline and does little to advance it. The shy young neighbor who appears two-thirds of the way through the book might have provided a better through line if she had somehow been introduced earlier. Additionally, a mention of Riley posing for “reference photos” for their dad’s painting feels obscure. Will young readers know what that is without explanation?
Overall, this is a cheerful slice-of-life book with gentle lessons about friendship, helping, and cooperation, and importantly, a nonbinary child being unconditionally accepted by family and friends.
Backmatter and More
Although this is a chapter book, not a picture book, comic-style illustrations at the chapter ends reflect the action of the story. Riley is biracial, with a Mexican mom and a White dad; Cricket reads as White, and Lea as Black. As with every book in the series, this one starts with two graphic-format pages titled “I’m Riley,” in which Riley introduces themselves, and two pages in which “Mx. Aude Teaches Helpful Terms,” giving definitions related to gender and queer identities. The latter might have worked better as backmatter, rather than slowing down the story with a pedagogical interruption (especially for those who have read other volumes in the series, with identical information), but this is good information to have nonetheless. Other than on those pages, however, gender identity is never mentioned, and Riley’s nonbinary identity is completely incidental to the story.
Actual backmatter includes discussion questions and writing prompts.
