WHILE YOU WERE OUT

Kuns's affecting if somewhat languidly paced debut novel opens on Penelope's first day of fifth grade and her father's first day working as janitor at her school. After the narrator's best friend, Tim, died of bone cancer over the summer, she enrolled in a "Poetry Therapy" class in which students were encouraged to "give names to [their] feelings." On this morning, Penelope names herself "Lead Twinkie" ("I felt like I had swallowed one whole, and it lay in the bottom of my stomach like a sunken submarine") and recognizes the injustice of starting school "with my dad instead of with my best friend." The grieving girl's resentment builds as her father participates in recess on the playground and sits next to her for lunch in the cafeteria—all the places Tim should be (and it doesn't help that the good-natured fellow devours a smelly peanut butter and onion sandwich, and joins in a game of jump rope). Penelope attempts to fill the void in her life by writing notes to Tim on pink "While You Were Out" phone message slips. Kuns realistically traces the heroine's gradual openness to new friendships and experiences, as her anger gives way to acceptance of Tim's absence ("Did she think she could just swoop in now and become my new instant friend?" Penelope says of her classmate). Penelope's narrative shapes a heartfelt, lyrical story of loss and healing. Ages 8-up. (Nov.)