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Reviewed by:
  • Binny Bewitched by Hilary McKay
  • Deborah Stevenson
McKay, Hilary Binny Bewitched; illus. by Tony Ross. McElderry, 2017 [240p]
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4814-9102-0 $16.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-4814-9104-4 $10.99
Reviewed from galleys         R Gr. 4-6

Twelve-year-old Binny (from Binny in Secret, BCCB 9/15, and Binny for Short, BCCB 10/13) knows her family is perpetually short of money since her father's death and the family's subsequent bankruptcy, but there's still no excuse for her grabbing the apparently abandoned wad of cash at the ATM and running off with it. Now she's haunted by the pile of £20 notes, moving them around her room to evade their discovery and trying to figure out a way to return them. Even that avenue of relief is denied her when the cash disappears and she's left to figure out who removed it. The Cornwallises are a classic McKay family, loving and disorganized, and the author continues to be wondrous at revealing the shadowy cracks beneath familial coziness; here she tackles both the reality of the family's financial straits and the truth about the folly of the beloved late father who put his family in precarious circumstances. The vigilant presence of the next-door neighbor who may know about Binny's theft plausibly ramps up the anxiety as Binny negotiates her dilemma. Since Binny's a very soft and young twelve, her adventures will easily read down well below her age; that means not every reader will catch some of the implied developments (like the reason Pete the handyman is fixing up the house without waiting to be paid), but they'll have that much more to be delighted by in the next installment. Ross' full-page illustrations add to Binny's rumply appeal. [End Page 418]

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