Get an Inside Peek! An Excerpt from Remy Lai’s Chickenpox
Is there anything, and I mean anything, better in this world than a new Remy Lai graphic novel? Boy oh boy, I don’t think so. The woman has shown an incredible range over the years, too. From the early days of books like Pie in the Sky and Fly on the Wall to last year’s incredible (and incredibly creepy) Read At Your Own Risk, one never really knows what she’s likely to do next.
A realistic graphic novel about being trapped in your house with your FOUR younger siblings because you all have chickenpox? I’d say that’s new territory and I’d say it’s well worth exploring. Here’s a bit about Chickenpox (out January 14th) from the publisher:
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“All big sister Abby wants is to spend more time with her friends, far away from the sticky fingers and snooping eyes of her annoying brothers and sisters. But when a case of the chickenpox leaves the Lai kids covered in scratchy red spots and stuck at home together for two weeks of nonstop mayhem, Abby thinks this might be the end . . . of her sanity. Yet she feels responsible for the situation since her best friend was Patient Zero and brought chickenpox into their home.
Will the itch to escape her siblings overwhelm Abby or will she realize being a big sister isn’t all bad? Full of heart and hijinks, Chickenpox showcases what gets us through good times and bad: family.”
Care to know more? Today, I am pleased to present to you an excerpt from the book. Read it, enjoy it, and be grateful that for most of you, you aren’t suffering from this particular disease right now. Warning: Things may get itchy.
Special thanks to Kelsey Marrujo and the team at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for sharing this excerpt with us today. Chickenpox is on shelves everywhere January 14th so the wait is not long! Put a reserve on it today!
Filed under: Excerpts
About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Kirkus, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on BlueSky at: @fuse8.bsky.social
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This reminds me of the part in All-of-a-Kind Family where all the kids (except Henny) have scarlet fever (basically strep with a rash). This of course, is in the era before antibiotics. And it is the night of the first seder. Papa conducts the seder in the dining room while the 4 sick girls are in the bedroom with the door open. Meanwhile, Henny is jealous of her sick sisters because they get to hang out together! And they are jealous that she is healthy. They are quarantined and a family friend drops gifts off for them outside the door.
Oh yes! And that reminds me of Cheaper By the Dozen, which has a similar situation with, I think, whooping cough.
I don’t remember whooping cough but I do remember them all having their tonsils out in Cheaper by the Dozen. They do it AT HOME and the father insists on having it filmed and he has his done without anesthesia. The doctor gets confused as to which kid doesn’t need hers out and so takes them all out, including the child he originally said didn’t need it, so she at that morning, and feels very ill afterwards. The others think it serves her right for gloating about how she could eat. The cameraman forgets to put film in the camera or something and in the end they have no video of it.
correction: she ATE that morning
Yep, that one’s more memorable. But there’s definitely a time when all but one kid is sick and Dad keeps sneaking in to play with them because he misses them so much.
Aw! I have to go back and reread it now!
I found it – it’s measles. They all get it except Martha – who, along with Dad, sneaks in to play with them. And it is during the doctor’s visit for measles that he recommends they have their tonsils out!
Yes! That’s it! Measles! It’s whooping cough that they get on the train. Ah, measles. Yet another childhood disease making a comeback.