One Two Three

Gr 9 Up–The bonds of sisterhood from Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meet the environmental sleuthing of Amy Allgeyer’s Dig Too Deep in this beautiful, character-driven title. Mab, Monday, and Mirabel have the misfortune of being born in Bourne, a town ravaged by the Belsum chemical company owned by the Templetons, a family who is indifferent to the birth defects and untimely deaths the effluence from their factory have caused. Mab seems to have escaped the worst of it, but Monday is clearly neurodivergent, and Mirabel has a brilliant mind trapped in a body that does not allow her to speak, move, or breathe comfortably without support. Their mother, widowed prior to their birth, does triple duty keeping the tattered class action lawsuit alive, providing counseling by day to the few remaining town inhabitants and slinging beers at the local tavern at night. The sudden reappearance of the Templeton family brings their youngest heir, River, to a town that is openly hostile, even as his father begins a campaign to revive the business. Frankel imbues each of the triplets with a unique voice and packs what could be a maudlin cautionary tale with love and humor that transcends the abuse of economic power and privilege. The triplets are white; there is diversity within the town.