Short by Holly Goldberg Sloan (review)

Size matters when it comes to Julia Marks, who’s very small for her age (“I’m still small enough to fit through the dog door at home”). She’s been feeling smaller than usual since the death of her beloved dog, Ramon, and she’s not thrilled that her mother is making her join her hammy little brother as a Munchkin in a local college production of The Wizard of Oz. Like many before her, however, Julia falls in love with theater—she loves the director, she loves the professional adult little people working alongside her, she loves the neighbor who turns out to be a gifted costumer, and she loves the person it allows her to be. Though the book relies a little too often on the reader getting a joke that Julia doesn’t, she’s an endearing narrator in her seriousness and her careful consideration of the world and her part of it; her grief for Ramon is authentically present without taking over her daily life. What’s particularly rewarding for Julia is her relationship with adults who see her in a different light, especially her Munchkin compatriot Olive, who provides a role model for Julia of somebody whose height brings opportunities as well as limitations. This is therefore less a theatrical tale (though there’s plenty of that) than a jubilant story about the way a new context can give kids a whole different perspective on life and themselves, and readers feeling stuck in their roles will particularly appreciate the implication.