By Lauren Myracle
Somerville MA: Walker Book, 2025. Fiction. 292 Pages.
Nine-year-old Penelope Goodheart has always gotten whatever she needed and has spent her short nine years traveling the world with her mother and celebrity godmother, Queenie Bee. With all the traveling they do Penelope has never gone to a formal school or made any friends her own age. Penelope decides she wants to have the school experience and make some friends so she begs her mother to let her attend an in-person school. Her mother finally agrees and tells her to find a school she likes. Penelope starts looking for schools in the state of Georgia because that is where her mother grew up. She is so excited when she finds the perfect school, Idlewild Academy for Girls, a boarding school in Georgia. At her new school Penelope quickly makes friends with her roommate Tate, but she soon finds that not all students are as friendly. School may not be as easy as she first thought but Penelope is determined to be positive and enjoy this new experience.
A few months into the school year Penelope's perfect world begins to crumble when her mother and godmother go missing. With her mother missing Penelope has no where to go, no other family, no money to pay for her schooling and so she is forced to work at the school to pay for her room and board. During this hard time when she is treated cruelly by people she thought were her friends, and pushed to do difficult chores, she discovers what she is truly made of and discovers her true self.
This is a sweet "riches-to-rags" story that emphasizes the importance of family, friendships and making your own happy endings. This classic story would be best for upper elementary and middle-grade readers who like realistic fiction books based on classics.
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