Gr 4 Up—A mysterious, glowing red object grants Peggy supernatural powers, but greater forces still threaten to
close in on her. With a wealth of period details and genre elements, this sci-fi caper set in the 1950s finds immediacy
in the fears of the time, while dealing espionage action that flies off the page.

5/10, it was ok. ( )

In a small 1950s town, a young girl stricken with polio finds a mysterious object that allows her to do amazing and magical feats. But the object is being pursued by a mystery man and by government agents who are leaning into the fear of communism to bully their hunt along. With tinges of "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street," the paranoid classic episode of The Twilight Zone, and art that pays homage to Hergé's Tintin, Liam Francis Walsh spins an exciting little tale about a dark time in American history.

(Another project! I'm trying to read all the picture books and graphic novels on the kids section of NPR's Books We Love 2022.) ( )

Pretty meh. The plot feels unoriginal and the blank-eyed Lil Orphan Annie-cartoon style does not appeal to me. ( )