I read Meeting Miss 405 with great pleasure. Lois Peterson handles important issues, like bullying, and delicate family matters, like depression, with deft grace, good humour and just enough gravity.
      Tansy is a charmer. And I predict that the Miss 405 of the title (aka Miss Stella) will start a brand new boom of interest in calligraphy!
      This is a lovely, sad, and hopeful story, very well told.

Bill Richardson,
CBC broadcaster and author of After Hamelin, The Aunts Come Marching
and The Bachelor Brothers Bed and Breakfast

 

There are several storylines and themes that are skillfully intertwined in this novel....In spite of the somewhat complicated themes of loneliness and discrimination, the physical presentation of the book and the uncomplicated vocabulary make the book readable for the 8-11 year old reader. It is written in the first person, adding to the novel’s readability. Recommended.

Canadian Materials (CM)
Read the full review here.
 

Full of thought-provoking issues, this was a novel I fully enjoyed.  One of my favorite aspects was that the book didn’t wrap everything up in a neat little package at the end.  Tansy’s mom is depressed, which isn’t something that magically goes away, and Lois Peterson makes that clear. In today’s world, too many of our students struggle with depression in their family and this is the first intermediate book that I have seen realistically deal with the topic.

The Reading Zone
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   ...A beautifully told tale that tackles some heavy topics... no condescending, oversimplified pabulum here.

Carolyn Cooke, NOW newspaper

 

Since her mother is unavailable while being treated for an illness, Tansy is required to report to a new babysitter, the mysterious Miss Stella who lives in apartment 405. Behind these doors, Miss Stella conducts a full, rich, and rather unusual life.
      Tansy is a real character: the kind of fun and feisty little girl our daughters frequently are. Tansy is working her way toward understanding complex problems, including her mother's illness, a classmate's life-threatening allergy, and her own complicated emotions.
     Peterson's prose is elegant, her language interesting. She gets inside a child's quirky head, yet never talks down to the reader. Highly recommended: a four wine-gum rating. (Why wine gums? Read the book to find out!)

     I look forward to more work from this fine author.

Loranne Brown, author of The Handless Maiden

 

Tansy's mom is ill and her father is distracted. He arranges for a rather odd, but nice, neighbour to care for Tansy after school. Miss Stella turns out not to have a TV, a computer, or a car, which Tansy thinks is bizarre. She discovers later Miss Stella is gifted and wise.
     Peterson weaves a delightful story with three dimensional characters and a great plot. Tansy learns to solve problems, become independent, and how to understand others through the gentle and unusual guidance of Miss Stella. The book is beautifully crafted. It is a REAL gem!
    I'm looking forward to many more children's books from Peterson. She has a fresh and enjoyable voice for young readers. Highly recommended.

Julie Ferguson, Author & speaker

 

Crafted with originality, humor, revelations, and life truths that are integral to the story, Lois Peterson has written an entirely satisfying novel for young readers. It delights with its rhythm, color, sensory images, and a fully engaging heroine, who faces the reality of separation from her mother and shows how, in the face of adversity, a child can grow, thrive, care for others, and express her creativity.
     Although written for children, this is a book I highly recommend that adults read, for the sheer pleasure and the truths about life.

Elizabeth Lyon, editor and author of six books on the craft of writing