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Karina Yan Glaser's The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street is a warm, noisy family story for 10 year olds about five children with less than a week to save their home.
The Vanderbeekers live in a red brownstone in Harlem, New York. Five days before Christmas their parents call a family meeting. The landlord isn't renewing their lease and they have to move out at the end of the month.
(Oliver's first guess is that his parents are getting divorced. His friend's parents did, and his friend got a pet snake out of it.)
The landlord lives on the top floor and nobody in the family has ever seen him. He hasn't left his flat in six years. He once threatened to call the police on Isa for playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star on her tiny violin when she was six!
So the kids decide to change his mind. Operation Beiderman begins, and it's a secret from Mama and Papa.
There are five of them and they're all VERY different. Isa is twelve and neat and plays the violin. Her twin Jessie is a scientist who quotes Newton's laws at everyone. Oliver is nine and lives in a tiny bedroom crammed with books. Hyacinth sews her own clothes, and four-year-old Laney thinks the answer is lots of hugs.
It's a really lovable house to spend time in. There's a dog, a cat called George Washington and a house rabbit, all getting under everyone's feet. Somebody is always knocking over a music stand or asking what a lease is (Laney asks twice).
What makes it so good is how the worry sits underneath all the fun. Hyacinth notices that Papa doesn't quite answer when she asks if they'll stay nearby. Isa spots dark circles under Mama's eyes.
The whole street is in it too. There's the postman who's known Papa since he was born, and the retired couple upstairs who are practically family. When the news gets out the postman is properly upset, and so is Oliver's friend across the back yard.
Why does the man upstairs hide away? The kids have no idea (the postman only says he's had hard times).
If your reader comes from a big, loud family (or secretly wishes they did), this one's a treat.
For another very full house in the run-up to Christmas, try The Lotterys More or Less. Sumac LOVES a festive plan, and this year a dad away in India, a grandfather's first December with them and no sign of snow are all getting in the way.
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