The Brothers Flick

Haddock and Wyche’s debut, a portal fantasy set in an orphanage “full of mysteries and oddities,” centers a quartet of brothers’ supernatural misadventures. The Flick brothers, who call seemingly Edwardian Strander House orphanage their home, are fearless investigators: amateur sleuth Leo is their leader; Desmond is Leo’s right-hand man; Remy, who uses a wheelchair and communicates via sign language, is an inventor; and Cub is a baby. When new kid Winston crawls out of a well in the courtyard, the brothers promise to get him home. But Winston claims that he never fell into a well, and it turns out that home could be any of a host of universes existing parallel to the brothers’ own. The inquiry takes the siblings to myriad worlds via portal, including an oceanic realm where Remy, sans wheelchair, floats freely with merfolk. Wyche’s vibrantly hued illustrations, populated by a well-defined cast portrayed with varying skin tones and body types, adeptly capture the brothers’ fantastical adventures. Though the worldbuilding is loose, the metaphor of “impossible doors” leading toward unending universes, where even the smallest changes reverberate, provides a unique framework for themes of grief and healing. Protagonists read as white. Ages 7–12. (Sept.)