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Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite
“Saving happiness.” That’s what Lucinda does when she paints a picture. But when friends Emma, Scarlett, Mary Ann, and Martin first see Lucinda, she’s anything but an artist. In Claire Pence’s The Bag Lady and the Frog Prince, the four friends meet Lucinda as a bag lady, a homeless person living in the woods. There’s also a mystery about a missing person that the four friends find themselves trying to solve. The only problem is that they’ve managed to annoy their parents and they’re grounded for the entire spring break. And that’s not all; they lose their cell phones for the week as well. The friends have plans for the Math Bowl and there’s a school play, The Frog Prince, opening soon. What else can go wrong? And who is Lucinda the Bag Lady?
Claire Pence’s middle-grade novel, The Bag Lady and the Frog Prince, is another book in the Willow Brook Drive series. The plot is powerful and lively enough to keep young readers engaged to the end. The characters are well-developed and believable as middle graders. The dialogue is constructed nicely and helps move the story along. The situations the friends encounter are very much in line with what middle-grade readers will experience, like class bullies, school plays and presentations, cell phones, groundings and so much more. The mystery within the plot is good and will have the reader wondering what could go wrong next or which way the youngsters will focus their energies on solving the problem. This is a great story for young readers.
