All Molly wants is to be normal like her friend Ellen Palmer. Ellen, with her neat braids and a tidy house and a mother and father who are home for dinner every night. But Molly’s mom spends her mornings tramping through the woods, looking for ingredients for her potions. Their house is not neat, and their rooster, the Gentleman, runs wild in their yard. And it is the Gentleman that angers their grumpy neighbors, the Grimshaws. So Molly’s mom makes a potion that will grow a tree between their houses.
When Molly’s mom accidentally drinks the potion and turns into the tree, Molly is determined to get her back. But with the Grimshaws planning to cut down the tree branches that reach onto their property, time is of the essence. With the help of her mysterious classmate Pim Wilder, Molly sets out to save her mother and discovers the wonder that lies in the ordinary.
A delightful, speculative book about self-acceptance and family. Molly’s adventurous journey to save her mother is engaging. The prose is wonderfully written and the budding friendship between Molly and Pim is craftfully weaved into the main plot. Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars is full of heart, with a brave female protagonist who learns to stand up for herself and realizes that weird things about her life are okay after all.
