December 16, 2013
As he lay dying, Theodora Tenpenny’s grandfather Jack muttered something about a treasure “under the egg.” Theodora, 13, thinks this means that Jack—a thrifty, unknown artist—left a means of providing for Theo and her unreliable mother. She searches the mantelpiece, beneath Jack’s painting of an egg, and the bowl where they display an egg gathered from the chicken coop behind their Greenwich Village townhouse. Nothing. Then an accident uncovers another image under Jack’s painting, sending Theo and her new friend Bodhi, the daughter of two film stars, on a mission to discover the provenance of what appears to be a Renaissance masterpiece. Theo is smart and resourceful, and debut author Fitzgerald creates a plausible backstory for the teen’s uncanny ability to spot “the difference between a Manet and a Monet.” While the resolution falls into place too easily, the search for answers forces Theo out of her shell and into the wonderfully quirky community around her. Fans of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler will find this another delightful lesson in art history. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger.
August 31, 2015
Thirteen-year-old Theodora Tenpenny lives with her mentally scattered mother in a run-down 200-year-old townhouse in Greenwich Village, N.Y. When her artistic grandfather, the family provider, dies suddenly, Theo finds a letter from him suggesting that a treasure is hidden “under the egg.” Reader Almasy gives the protagonist a credible young-sounding voice and can-do attitude, as well as portraying a colorful cast of secondary characters who assist Theo on her treasure hunt. There’s Theo’s friend Bohdi, the child of movie-star parents whose roller-coaster Southern California accent Almasy captures “for sure,” and the guttural-accented deli owner Mr. K., who supplies Theo with the occasional free lunch. Antagonists include a dismissive art expert named Gemma, whose speech Theo describes as “deliberately pretentious,” Madame Dumont, a very French next-door neighbor who wants to evict Theo and her mother, and Lydon Randolph, a retired art curator who is convinced Theo possesses a painting of great value that Lydon wants for himself. Almasy gives him a mellifluously aristocratic Southern accent that turns hard and vicious when riled, which is how the ever-crafty Theo inevitably leaves him. Ages 8–12. A Dial hardcover.