Just when you thought Hilary McKay’s Casson family stories were complete, along comes book number five—the “final visit,” according to the jacket. Highly original and sometimes outrageous, the Cassons continue to delight in a story that is once again laugh-out-loud funny and full of warmhearted feeling. With her dad in London and her siblings’ lives changing, youngest child Rose is feeling left out and left behind. She doesn’t like the emptiness at home (even the hamsters are gone); she wants things the way they used to be. But Rose doesn’t know where her sister Caddy went after breaking off her engagement, and Saffy and Indigo are caught up in high school activities and related dramas (although they always make time for Rose when they can). Saffy’s friend Sarah, horrified at Rose’s adamant resistance to reading, is determined to find her a book she will love, and Indigo’s friend David, facing his own family crisis, has moved his unwieldy drum kit into the Casson home. When Rose’s teacher Mr. Spencer cancels the class Christmas celebration, it’s one more bit of comfort and familiarity gone by the wayside for Rose. So when her friend hatches a plan for a secret overnight at the zoo, Rose is not up to resisting. McKay’s novel features typical Casson chaos: always a bit fanciful, but featuring funny and sympathetic characters; lovely language; and moving, wholly realistic observations about family life and friendship. (Ages 9–13)

All the Cassons are growing up and moving out, leaving Rose alone much of the time in this final book in a series that began with Saffy’s Angel and In digo’s Star (previously reviewed in Crossing Boundaries with Children’s Books ). Readers will miss this quirky and lovable family and the gifted writing of the author, who “tells stories like some people paint pictures, sketching in the bare facts and then adding details as bright and alive as if they had just been picked from a new box of colors” ( Forever Rose, pp. 10–11). In this book, Rose comes of age as she discovers the true meaning of friendship and family. 2009 USBBY Outstanding International Books List. djg

Originally published by Hodder Children’s Books Great Britain, in 2007.

Rose knows that nothing stays the same forever.

Still, it's hard to watch her sisters and brother growing up and moving so far ahead of her. Caddy is back, but she's not living at home. And worse -- she's broken up with Darling Michael. Saffy and Indigo are so busy, they are seldom home. With her father in London and her mother painting in the shed, Rose is often alone in the house.

Maybe that's why she agrees to her new friend Molly's crazy scheme. At least it seems crazy when Rose finds herself locked in the zoo at night with a roaring tiger. Maybe she should have been paying more attention to what Molly was saying. But on that spooky night, Rose finds out a secret that just might change everything -- and help bring her family and friends together and new life to their old house.

Hilary McKay infuses her charming characters with much love and laughter in this final visit with the delightfully daffy Casson family.