Lenny's Book of Everything

By: Karen Foxlee
Location: FIC FOX
Genre: Family, health, tissues needed!

”Our mother had a dark heart feeling. It was as big as the sky kept inside a thimble. That’s how dark heart feelings are. They have great volume but can hide in small places. You can swallow them with a blink and carry them inside you so no-one would know.”


Lenny, small and sharp, has a younger brother Davey who won't stop growing - and at seven is as tall as a man. Raised by their single mother, who works two jobs and is made almost entirely out of worries, they have food and a roof over their heads, but not much else. 

The bright spot every week is the arrival of the latest issue of Burrell's Build-It-at-Home Encyclopedia. Through the encyclopedia, Lenny and Davey experience the wonders of the world - beetles, birds, quasars, quartz - and dream about a life of freedom and adventure, visiting places like Saskatchewan and Yellowknife, and the gleaming lakes of the Northwest Territories. But as her brother's health deteriorates, Lenny comes to accept the inevitable truth; Davey will never make it to Great Bear Lake. 


As we travel on the journey of this story, Lenny leading us with her interest in beetles, and Davey with his fascination with falcons, we learn a host of encyclopaedic facts about the world, but we also learn about love and loss and letting go. This book will break your heart, but it will also open your eyes to the mysteries and wonders of the world. And somehow, in the midst of all that, it will remind you of love and friendship, of the joy of being alive, and of the deep well of hope that lies within us all. It will restore your faith in humanity and prove that while ‘dark heart feelings’ might be a part of the human condition, these are balanced with optimism, yearning, promise and possibilities.

"This is a story with a huge heart, and a writer with a deep understanding of humanity. Beautifully conceived and brilliantly executed, I think Lenny’s Book of Everything is a masterpiece."

"Move aside The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Move aside Wonder. Lenny’s Book of Everything is here."

"Lenny is rare and incredibly special."