Lucy the Good (review)

Lucy can feel her temper rising, but she hasn't learned how to stop it before it erupts—and lands her in a heap of trouble. Though she feels rather hard done by—in her mind, she's just responding to life's temptations and provocations—she's got a rep as a bad kid as a result of her temper. When an opinionated aunt comes for an extended stay with her family, Lucy makes a concerted effort to become Lucy the Good. All goes well for a while, until she has a tête-à-tête with her teacher that results in a foolish experiment to prove whether she is good or bad that leads to even more trouble for young Lucy. This Australian import perceptively conveys the experience of being inside the head of a kid in the stages leading up to a tantrum. More often than not, the initial conflict is minor, but Lucy has a habit of digging herself deeper and deeper that will be familiar to many young readers. The characterizations are solid and the dynamics authentic, and the conclusion, wherein Lucy and her teacher sit down and talk about her tendencies and how they can work together to address them, is both realistic and heartening. Occasional ink illustrations offer tidy, occasionally humorously tinged interpretations of the storyline as well as a sprinkling of decorative spot art. Musgrove approaches the topic of anger management with a light hand, and there is plentiful humor thrown in along the way; add to that an endearing if somewhat obstinate protagonist and you've got a thoughtful, entertaining entry for the elementary set.