Sloan, Holly Goldberg

Did you know that possums have Shakespeare, Chekhov, and theater of every sort in their blood? Me either. But such is the case for the thespian marsupials in Sloan’s (Counting by 7s, rev. 9/13) latest tale. In this particular fictive world are newly born protagonist Appleblossom and her twelve siblings (all with names beginning with A, as is the tradition for a possum mother’s first litter), eager to discover how to find food, to prepare for such enemies as “hairies” (dogs) and “monsters” (people), and—most of all—to develop their acting abilities. “Your tail looks believable,” Mama Possum tells Appleblossom, who is attempting to impersonate a reptile. “But you need to feel more like a snake in your body. Move from the inside.” When the day comes for the youngsters to go out into the world, they scatter, all except Appleblossom, Antonio, and Amlet (for “Hamlet”), who decide to stick together. When Appleblossom ends up trapped in a “monster” house, it is those two brothers, Mama, and a newly rediscovered father who come to her rescue