Susan says: This is the latest in a series of books that McKay has written about the Casson family. I like these books so much because the family is really crazy, but still warm and loving, in their own fashion. Rose is the youngest one, and this is the second book about her. She doesn't really understand everything that happens to her as it happens. Her mother, who is an artist, has been very sick for some time, and for a long time I worried that the mother was going to have some sort of lung cancer or something, but apparently she just had bronchitis. There are a lot of other twists and turns in these books, where you can anticipate something is coming, just not what. While the family is totally dsyfunctional, they are dysfunctional in a good way, and the books are funny and warm and enjoyable. Another good book in the series. ( )

The latest (last?) book about the eccentric, artistic Casson family. Eleven-year-old Rose, the youngest, is going though a bad patch and feeling very neglected.

Ultimately heart-warming, but with a lot of tears along the way. ( )

This is the latest in a series of books that McKay has written about the Casson family. I like these books so much because the family is really crazy, but still warm and loving, in their own fashion. Rose is the youngest one, and this is the second book about her. She doesn't really understand everything that happens to her as it happens. Her mother, who is an artist, has been very sick for some time, and for a long time I worried that the mother was going to have some sort of lung cancer or something, but apparently she just had bronchitis. There are a lot of other twists and turns in these books, where you can anticipate something is coming, just not what. While the family is totally dsyfunctional, they are dysfunctional in a good way, and the books are funny and warm and enjoyable. Another good book in the series. ( )

Thank goodness for British children’s books! There is something about a book in which characters say “shan’t” and use mysterious objects called spongebags and occasionally talk in Capital Letters that warms my heart like a spot of tea and some beans on toast.Forever Rose by Hilary McKay (Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster, 2008) is the fifth and last in the series that started with Saffy’s Angel in 2002. As fans of the Casson Family series know, there are four children (each named after a color), an absent-minded and impractical but loving artist Mum, and a Dad who is an Important Artist and lives in London. That the family members are eccentric and unpredictable is only part of this series’ charm – it’s the warmly affectionate and usually understanding (if occasionally disparaging or scornful) way the Cassons treat each other that is so enticing. Oh, and the deft way McKay has with words, letting her address significant issues with a lovely lightness (somewhat reminiscent of Eva Ibbotson and Sylvia Waugh). And don’t forget those capital letters! Yes, everything and everyone comes together at the end of this book and it is Very Slightly Soppy, but oh so satisfying. I wish there would be more! ( )

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OTfor newbery