Oddfellow's Orphanage (review)

Delia is new to the orphanage run by Oddfellow Bluebeard, a "distant relation" to the famous villain but "as gentle and kind as the other Bluebeard was cruel." The orphanage turns out to be a wonderful place populated with friendly teachers, unusual but pleasant pupils (among them Imogen, a tattooed girl, Ollie, an onion-headed boy, and Hugo, a hedgehog), and an entertaining family of dancing bears. The classes, such as Cryptozoology, "which is the study of mysterious and possibly imaginary animals" and "F. T. Studies," focusing on folk and fairy tales, are likewise both captivating and unconventional. Each chapter opens with a brief, piquant profile of one of the orphanage's residents, with the experiences of newcomer Delia providing an accessible entry point into this unique world. Nothing terribly dramatic happens here (the baby bear goes missing and is found, the orphans go to the circus, Christmas is celebrated), but readers who gravitate towards gentle, imaginative stories and orphan fans with a taste for mild eccentricity will find this satisfactory. The mute Delia (who communicates via tidy cursive in a notebook) is a sympathetic and intriguing character, and Martin's monochromatic illustrations depict a sweet, old-fashioned world in which the people are wide-eyed and elfin and the animal (and vegetable) characters are just as appealing as the human.