Mary Rose of Mifflin

Mary Rose arrives at the Washington Apartment House with her canary Jenny Lind and her cat George Washington, carrying everything she knows of home in a small suitcase. Her Aunt Kate and Uncle Larry have made room for her in their city building, but the Washington is not a place for children, and certainly not for children with pets. The building manager disapproves. The neighbors are stiff and formal. Everything about this new life feels like it was designed without her in mind. But Mary Rose possesses a child's stubborn faith that the world can be won over with sincerity. Through her encounters with the building's peculiar residents, each one a small puzzle of habits and resistances, she begins to find her place, one awkward, generous gesture at a time. The story captures that delicate age when a child is old enough to sense the world's coolness but young enough to believe warmth can change it. A gentle period piece that will appeal to readers who believe the best children's literature respects its young protagonists enough to show them struggling, not simply succeeding.