Once for Yes
by Allie Millington
Intermediate, Middle School    Feiwel    272 pp.
3/25    9781250326980    $17.99
e-book ed.  9781250326973    $9.99

Millington’s debut (Olivetti, rev. 5/24) was about a sentient typewriter, and this offering begins with the observations of the Odenburgh, an apartment building and one of several narrative perspectives in a quirky and affecting novel. A year after the death of her sister Lina, Prue Laroe is dreading her own upcoming birthday. She’s about to turn twelve, the age Lina was when she died. Their grieving family, including parents and a teenage sister, lives in the fifty-year-old building, the place where Prue feels closest to Lina. After finding out that the Odenburgh has been sold and is slated for demolition, Prue tries to rally the occupants to save their home. She’s assisted by an earnest across-the-street neighbor who, as she discovers, knew her sister—and by the building itself. The story offers day-in-the-life glimpses of engaging secondary characters with various opinions about the demolition and sometimes surprising connections to the Laroe family’s tragedy. “What was worse—never knowing and always wondering? Or knowing and always wishing it were different?” asks Prue as more details about her sister’s death emerge. Although things don’t go exactly as planned, by the end our protagonist has gained some level of healing and the ability to move forward.

From the ">May/June 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.