THE APARTMENT HOUSE ON POPPY HILL
By: Nina LaCour
Illustrated by: Sónia Albert
Published: November 7, 2023
Publisher: Chronicle Kids
Fiction
In this new illustrated chapter book, kids will be welcomed into 1106 Wildflower Place, set on a hill in San Francisco. Ella has lived in Apartment C with her moms for all of her nine years. But, today is an exciting day because someone new is moving into Apartment E.
The apartments on Poppy Hill include Matilda, an eccentric woman who loves to mark evening time with a loud gong and serves the best tea. Jacque and Merland live with their two dogs in Apartment B. Ella was the flower girl at their wedding. The whole top floor houses the Robinsons and no one seems to know too much about them. Then there are the new residents, Leo and Cleo, and Ella is anxious to give them a tour and explain to them how everything works at the apartments on Poppy Hill.
Ella likes structure and rules and wants to make sure all the residents of Poppy Hill follow the rules too. She ensures the new residents know how the garden plots are divided, who lives in all the apartments, and even how to start their oven and turn on their lights.
Ella knows everything that happens in the apartment house except for the Robinsons. She has never seen them collect their mail, prune their roses in the garden, or even switch the laundry. Until the day Jacque and Merland got married, then everything changed.
This new early chapter book is the first for LaCour who is known for her young adult novels. The illustrations showcase the unique personalities of each of the residents like Matilda’s ostrich feathers. Kids will be seeing more of Ella and her neighbors as this is the first in a planned series of books.
Nina LaCour is the bestselling and Michael L. Printz Award-winning author of Yerba Buena, Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle, We Are Okay, Watch Over Me, Hold Still, The Disenchantments, and Everything Leads to You. She is also the co-author of You Know Me Well, a novel written in collaboration with David Levithan, and a contributor to numerous anthologies, including Summer Days and Summer Nights, edited by Stephanie Perkins. She lives in San Francisco.
Sónia Albert is an illustrator from Mataró, a Mediterranean city near Barcelona. I graduated from the Children’s Book Illustration MA at Cambridge School of Art in 2020. I love everything about illustration and storytelling. From picture books to comics. I enjoy experimenting with traditional and digital art – considering several techniques to find the one that matches the story.
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Posted Under Book Review, chapter books, Children's books, Nina LaCour, Sónia Albert