Effie Starr Zook Has One More Question by Martha Freeman (review)

When Effie Starr Zook’s parents decide to fly a solar-powered plane around the world, they ship New Yorker Effie off to her aunt and uncle’s place in the country. The Zook name is a bit of a legend around Penn Creek due to Effie’s great-grandfather’s invention of the barf bag, but her heritage also brings drama. There’s apparently some bad blood between Effie’s family and a neighboring family going back generations, and the only kids Effie can find to hang out with aren’t allowed to come near her. The adults—even the kindly owner of the local bookshop—are all tight-lipped on the subject, with her aunt uttering an “Oh, dear” and her uncle leading the discussion elsewhere whenever Effie asks about the story. She’s intrepid, though, and where there’s a town library, there’s a way. This is a predictable and well-worn story about hidden family tales, and only a snazzy, dynamic neighbor and the aforementioned bookstore owner buck the trend of flat characters. Complexities of race, heritage, and power, however, offer some intrigue to Effie’s family’s secrets, especially in her own relationship with privilege, and readers of family dramas may be pleased to see Effie’s questions finally answered.