All That’s Missing

Eleven-year-old orphan Arlo’s life with his grandfather has been tricky for some time: Poppo’s memory isn’t what it used to be. The situation worsens after Poppo has a stroke, and Arlo is forced into a children’s shelter. Determined to find his one living relative, a grandmother who hasn’t seen him in nearly a decade, Arlo hops a bus to Edgewater, Va. But his grandmother, Ida, turns out to be pretty “prickly” (“Poppo was in danger. And here Arlo was, 350 miles away, staying with a woman who was supposed to care about him but who seemed to have the heart of an armadillo”). Slowly, Arlo makes a friend—a girl named Maywood—and patches together the history of his fractured family. Meanwhile, a suspicious realtor is aggressively attempting to purchase Ida’s house. In a novel laced with mystery and a hint of the supernatural, picture book author Sullivan (Passing the Music Down) creates a strong small-town atmosphere through Edgewater’s citizens, young and old. A quietly affecting coming-of-age story about finding family and confronting change. Ages 8–12. (Oct.)