“UNDER THE EGG,” by Laura Marx Fitzgerald, Dial, March 18, 2014, Hardcover, $16.99 (ages 8-12)
In high school, my favorite class was AP art history. I loved it so much; I went on an art history tour my teacher offered a year after I graduated. In college, my minor was history. So when you mix art, art history, history and books together, well you might just say I’m in heaven. So you can understand my excitement when I came across “Under the Egg,” by Laura Fitzgerald — it fits into all of those categories and more.
When Theodora Tenpenny spills a bottle of rubbing alcohol on her late grandfather’s painting, she discovers what seems to be an old Renaissance masterpiece underneath. That’s great news for Theo, who’s struggling to hang onto her family’s two-hundred-year-old townhouse and support her unstable mother on her grandfather’s legacy of $463. There’s just one problem: Theo’s grandfather was a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and she worries the painting may be stolen.
With the help of some unusual new friends, Theo’s search for answers takes her all around Manhattan, and introduces her to a side of the city—and her grandfather—that she never knew. To solve the mystery, she’ll have to abandon her hard-won self-reliance and build a community, one serendipitous friendship at a time.*
“Under the Egg” has a lot of things going for it — great pacing, an interesting storyline and characters you actually care about.
First, the pacing. There’s nothing worse than having a story that interests you only to find that you’re never getting anywhere. That’s not the case here. Fitzgerald’s tempo is variable, slowing and speeding up to add emphasis where needed.
Next, an interesting storyline. While most of the great masters’ paintings are accounted for, every once in a while, a painting will pop up that could possibly be a masterpiece. It takes months and months of research and often there is still doubt as to who the true artist is. In “Under the Egg,” Fitzgerald makes the discovery phase, which can be tedious, interesting and exciting. She plays on readers’ intelligence, and it pays off.
Finally, characters that you actually care about. Theo is smart and eclectic. She’s used to fending for herself and is wary of help from others. Her friend Bodhi is just as eccentric and independent. Theo is book/library savvy, while Bodhi is up on all the latest technology. It’s the perfect pairing that this book just wouldn’t work without.
If you’re looking for a perfect summer read. “Under the Egg” might just be it.
*Synopsis provided by Dial (Penguin Young Readers Group)
Editor’s note: The above post differs from Cracking the Cover’s regular review format. Learn more.
