BIBSY CROSS AND THE TIME CAPSULE

Beloved Bibsy Cross is bound to make new fans in this series’ fourth and final outing.

Although 8-year-old Bibsy has plenty of specific, detailed memories—sweets mixed with bits of sour, as she might put it—she’s reluctant to participate in a schoolwide time capsule. “How are we supposed to fit / everything that needs fitting into a little container? / And if it doesn’t all fit, how will we choose?” she asks—a sentiment that BFF Natia shares. But when Bibsy’s lonely, widowed grandmother moves in with the Cross family, she gently helps Bibsy reframe the task. Bibsy remains her lovably irrepressible self even as her social smarts and self-awareness continue to develop. The book’s best moments are Bibsy’s rather amusing asides as she shares observations of her classmates and refines her understanding of her teacher, the repressive Mrs. Stumper. Scanlon’s masterly metaphors draw on relatably quotidian subject matter, and the pages fly by in brief, lively chapters, written in free verse and presented in large type. Ho’s perfectly suited grayscale drawings, popping with purple highlights, add immeasurably to the fun, depicting Bibsy’s diverse classmates. The engaging line art and fresh, insightful text combine for the tale of a believably childlike hero who nevertheless grapples with heady concerns, among them the thought of one day losing loved ones. Bibsy and her family are pale-skinned; Natia is brown-skinned.

Poignant, funny, and perceptive—a lovely conclusion to a gem of a series.