Ida B

July 26, 2004
This insightful, seemingly intuitive first novel digs deep inside the soul of 9-year-old narrator Ida B Applewood. Home-schooled since kindergarten, Ida B is perfectly content spending all of her free time alone outdoors, talking to the brook and the trees in the orchard (all of whom she has named). Hannigan characterizes Ida B's relationship with nature as integral to her being; when Ida B's father tells her, "We are the earth's caretakers," she replies, "I think the earth takes care of us, too." Then her mother is diagnosed with cancer, and Ida B's world turns upside down. Her parents must sell part of her beloved orchard to pay the medical bills, and Ida B must enroll in public school.
In subtle ways, the author demonstrates how these events shake the heroine to the core. Ida B, feeling betrayed by her parents, powerless to save her trees, and determined to hate Ernest B. Lawson Elementary School, allows her heart to turn into "a sharp, black stone... so hard nobody could break it and so sharp it would hurt anybody who touched it." Through the first-person narration, Hannigan lets readers see Ida B's sense of humor and the compassion beneath her armor. It takes time and the gentle prodding from a sensitive teacher for Ida B's heart to soften enough for her to appreciate the things that are steadfast: her parents' love, friendship and the pleasure she receives from reading aloud.
Those who have been forced to make uncomfortable adjustments will identify with the heroine's attitude—taking family hardships as personal attacks—and will understand Ida B's reluctance to let go of the old and make room for the new. Hannigan shows a remarkable understanding of a stubborn child's perspective in her honest, poignant portrayal of loss and rebirth. Ages 9-up.

Starred review from September 13, 2004
With her bright and youthful voice, Taylor sounds instantly at ease in the role of nine-year-old Ida B Applewood, debut novelist Hannigan's memorable firecracker of a character. By turns sensitive and bursting with energy and imagination, Ida B whiles away the hours communing withthe babbling brook and the apple trees in the orchard of her family's farm. She's been lucky enough to be homeschooled since kindergarten, as her parents understood the suffocation Ida B felt in a traditional school setting. But when Mama is diagnosed with breast cancer, Ida B's "righter than right" life is turned on its ear. She must attend school and sees part of the orchard sold. And toughest of all, she understands the hurt in her parents and steels her heart against all these bad things—and everyone she comes in contact with. Luckily, an understanding teacher provides the right sounding board that eventually gets Ida B to change her plans and her heart. Listeners will want to stay aboard this very realistic emotional roller coaster, made all the more vivid via Taylor's fine reading. Ages 9-up.