Book Review: Mo Wren, Lost and Found by Tricia Springstubb (2011)

Mo Wren, Lost and Found is the sequel to What Happened on Fox Street, and it sees the Wren family beginning its new life in a new part of town. Dad works hard to make his dream restaurant a reality, while Dottie adjusts surprisingly well to life in a new school. Mo seems to be the only one who is lost, as she copes with being away from Da, Mercedes, Pi, and everything else she loved about Fox Street.

Like the first book, this is a very introspective title, where much of the action of the plot takes place inside Mo’s mind, as she deals with her feelings on various topics. Her new neighborhood is filled with interesting people, each of whom, over time, becomes important to Mo, even in spite of her objections to the move. I don’t know if the book really covered anything new as compared with the first book, but I did enjoy finding out what happened to the Wrens and seeing how things ultimately turned out for all of them. A pet lizard, a used sweatshirt, a curse, and a laundromat also figure heavily into the plot, as does the new family in the house on Fox street, an unusual boy named Shawn, and a surprise snowstorm.

I’d recommend this book to readers who enjoyed What Happened on Fox Street, as well as Susan Patron’s Hard Pan Trilogy, and Karen Day’s A Million Miles from Boston, where characters must also deal with major life changes and figure out how to navigate adult problems.