Otherwise Known as Possum

This warm work of historical fiction takes readers to the Hoover-era South, where times are hard for all and particularly tough for LizBetty “Possum” Porter, who yearns for things to be “like when they’d been perfect,” back before her mother died in childbirth. Still, Possum, “past eleven and a half, working on twelve,” seems to have enough grit to carry her through life’s changes, from her family’s sadness to worries about a newly arrived “Yankee devil” teacher who seems sweet on her father and wants Possum to go to school, even though “Momma didn’t want my learnin’ boxed into that schoolhouse.” With formal schooling comes an awakening on more than one front, as Possum navigates changing friendships, awkward love, and her own healing heart. Laso saturates her debut novel with fresh figurative language that shapes her characters (“I felt like dirt on a worm belly, only worse”) and strongly evokes Possum’s world. Sadly, this is also Laso’s last work; she died while completing final revisions in 2015. Ages 8–12. Agent: Heather Schroeder, Compass Talent. (Feb.)