Lenny's Book Of Everything

Lenny's Book of Everything

by Karen Foxlee (2018)

A beautifully told story of a family struggling to  cope  with  many hardships. Told through the eyes of young Lenny Spink we learn of her  absent  father  (Peter Leonard Spink) and her mothers'  struggle to provide for the family with two part time jobs. Lenny's younger brother Davey is abnormally large for his age growing at an alarming rate, and he is eventually  diagnosed with tumours on his pituitary gland which require an operation and radiation. There are  no close family  members to help with  the care of  Lenny and Davey, and Cynthia Spink , the mother relies  on a neighbour ,the elderly Mrs Gasper to  help out. Mrs Gasper becomes family, almost grandmother-like telling the children stories and helping to care for them in times of need. There has been a falling out with family and the children have never met their maternal  grandmother, only spoken to her on the phone.

Lenny and Davey wonder what their father was like, where he might be, if he will ever return  and why he left. The reader senses a yearning in Lenny  for a father figure, and loss over his leaving them. The two children watch the arrivals and departures at the local bus stop from the bedroom window, watching for their father's return  and dream of escaping themselves.

Lenny has two close friends who accept and support  her and all her troubles.

Lenny and Davey's relationship is the core of the story. They are close with Lenny being the eldest. The two children spend hours pouring over the latest edition of a build it yourself encyclopaedia  set that arrives weekly. The editions expand the children's narrow experience of the world,  in alphabetical order. However Lenny often finds herself embarrassed and ashamed of her abnormally large younger brother and ' .....the shame of being ashamed was even worse than the shame'.  Love and shame. Complicated emotions for a young person.

A story of love, acceptance, perseverance and loss.