read by Taylor Miskimen beautifully
Unabridged audio (8:28)
2019 Viking Books for Young Readers
320 pgs.
HF (sort of...) MidGrades
Finished 9/5/2019
Goodreads rating: 3.91 - 2646 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: 1981 Soho, NYC - artist community, in an artist's loft....
First line/s: "May Day is the first day of May. 'Mayday' is a radio signal used by ships and aircraft in distress. This spring, May Day was the first day that my mom didn't get out of bed."
My comments: This is a book about color and art and being part of an artist community in Soho, NYC, in 1981. There is both innocence and maturity in Ollie that makes her a really interesting protagonist. Character development, setting, and plot were all very strong in the wonderful book. Exceptionally well narrated. There's an afterward talking about depression in parents and helping to explain a bit about it to a middle grade reader, telling where they could get help for themselves and the parent who may suffer from it.
Goodreads synopsis: SoHo, 1981. Twelve-year-old Olympia is an artist—and in her neighborhood, that's normal. Her dad and his business partner Apollo bring antique paintings back to life, while her mother makes intricate sculptures in a corner of their loft, leaving Ollie to roam the streets of New York with her best friends Richard and Alex, drawing everything that catches her eye.
Then everything falls apart. Ollie's dad disappears in the middle of the night, leaving her only a cryptic note and instructions to destroy it. Her mom has gone to bed, and she's not getting up. Apollo is hiding something, Alex is acting strange, and Richard has questions about the mysterious stranger he saw outside. And someone keeps calling, looking for a missing piece of art. . . .
Olympia knows her dad is the key--but first, she has to find him, and time is running out.
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