The Jigsaw Jungle by Kristin Levine - ESSENTIAL

The Jigsaw Jungle by Kristin Levine, 354 pages.  Putnam (Penguin), 2018.  $18.

Content: PG (see spoiler alert below, though)

EL, MS - ESSENTIAL

After the last day of the school year, Claudia, 12, and her mother expected Dad to return home exhausted but happy.  But he doesn’t.  Instead, he has disappeared.  It takes a couple of days, but the police find evidence of him withdrawing money from his bank and heading to the bus station– leaving his wife and daughter devastated, knowing he ran out on them.  Now Claudia has to go stay with her Papa (grandfather), Dad’s father, because Mom has to go to her conference in Switzerland.  Then she receives an envelope with a puzzle piece – from one of the over 100 puzzles from Dad’s younger days – and what seems to be a clue. 

Long explanation, but there is so much more to know!  Levine again shows herself to be a master of her craft.  The story is told through a book of artifacts that Claudia collects, but Levine chooses just the right ones that I always felt like I as reading a narrative, not watching a home movie or reading receipts!  The interplay between Claudia and her Papa, and with Papa struggling with the loss of his wife is poignant.  

SPOILER ALERT: 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.The book plot ultimately revolves around coming out of the closet and coming to terms with a family breaking apart and figuring out how make a new kind of family. It is all exactly what kids should have available for them to read – no missteps here.

Cindy, Middle School Librarian