The Night Garden, by Polly Horvath. Puffin Canada, Penguin Random House. 2017. $21.99 ages 9 and up

" ... everything is now changed. But that is the whole of what life is. See the sun sinking over the edge of the sea? This day is done. This day will never come again. Everything has changed. Remind yourself of that every morning and every night, and then you won't expect anything but what is. It's expecting anything but what is that makes people unhappy."

Franny is one lucky girl! When her meant-to-be adoptive family dies in a fire on the day she is to join them, their neighbors, Old Tom and Sina
open their door to a caseworker, not sure what to do with the baby. That caseworker dies from a heart attack at the front door, leaving Franny on a Vancouver Island farm near Sooke, BC under the care of Sina, a sculptor, and her husband Tom, a gardener. It is an unusual, yet auspicious, beginning.

Franny's story is personal and full of candor. Her voice is strong, humorous and inspired. She is the writer in the family. The life they live together is mostly comfortable, honest, and endearing. Then comes the day when she is 12, and WWII is a backdrop to some of the happenings near their home.  A big change is occasioned at the request of a neighbor, the weepy Crying Alice. She comes to the door asking for help in caring for her three children, as her husband is threatening to do 'something stupid'. He works on a nearby military base and she needs to be with him.

Franny has no need of family beyond the one she has. She is not pleased when Sina accepts responsibility for Crying Alice's three children, Winifred, Wilfred, and Zebediah. They are noisy, opinionated, and rambunctious. Their energetic presence upsets the equilibrium of the life the three have lived until their arrival.  Franny soon discovers that she quite likes having other children in the house, despite the complications that come with their presence. They have all been warned sternly by Tom, as has Franny throughout her lifetime, that only one garden of all those he nurtures is off-limits. They are NEVER to go into the Night Garden. Only Tom and the Hermit are allowed inside.

Of course, you know that is the exact motivation some children need to make that particular garden the most impressive and appealing of all. Zebediah is the youngest and he is communicating with his father in a series of mysterious letters. Once the children discover the garden will grant a wish to anyone, one that cannot be reversed, he is determined to test its power. Will he use it to help his father in his effort to steal the plane he loves so much? Will anyone else test the magic of the Night Garden?

Filled with memorable characters, an absorbing  plot, an air of mystery, and a pleasing conclusion, this story will find favor and fans in any middle years classrooms, and is a winning book to read aloud.