Author: Caroline Adderson
Publisher: Groundwood Books

When the “grownup virus” hits, kids who live in the same apartment building must cope with strange new rules and extended time at home with parents and siblings.

And they survive brilliantly, each in their own way. Twin boys throw themselves into an independent research assignment on prehistoric people and embrace their own devolution. A budding track star is encouraged to run laps on his balcony by a neighbor who has a secret crush on him. A classroom troublemaker reaches out to a teacher when his own father begins to exhibit signs of mental illness. A young entrepreneur saves himself and his hairdresser mother from financial collapse by renting out the family dog. And a girl finds a way to communicate with her hearing-impaired neighbor so that they can spy on the rest of the building.

The stories follow the course of the pandemic, from the early measures through lockdown, as the kids in the building observe the stresses on the adults around them and use their own quirky kid ingenuity to come up with ways to make their lives better. Funny, poignant and wise, this book will long outlive even the pandemic.

Seven short stories each feature a different point of view from the kids living in one apartment block; three are in a boy’s point of view. An eighth chapter then brings all the points of views and children together.

More than clever, it’s consistently funny – a real lift to any reader. Though it’s a little more middle-grade than young adult, any age will love these stories, which are less about the pandemic than they are about everyday folks in extraordinary circumstances, finding unusual, clever, hilarious ways to cope. That makes this fiction, unlike other pandemic books, stand out as timeless.

Kudos to the author for including a hearing-impaired child (and the balcony mate who learns sign language to communicate with her). And for merging all these highly original characters at the end. This is a highly recommended read.

- Pam Withers