The Someday Suitcase

Starred review from March 15, 2017
If two people connect through symbiosis, what happens when one weakens?Clover and Danny, both 10 and both white, have known each other since birth. They have an unmarred record in the statue game, closing their eyes and striking the same pose; he eats her pizza toppings because she only wants sauce and crust. They're more than next-door best friends--Clover believes they're literally symbiotic. Then Danny starts fainting and getting infections. Hospitalizations, specialists, and a long trek to diagnosis arc ensue. Danny has common variable immune deficiency, but it's not identified until late. With Danny out of school, there's nobody to fill in the paper outline of Clover in art class--a keen symbol of his absence and her need--so Clover uses her scientist's heart and acute eye for detail to do a science project on Danny himself. She identifies something that actually improves his medical symptoms: her. There's magic here--in her personal contribution to his wellness, in their stowaway adventure from Florida to a last-ditch clinic in Vermont, and in Haydu's quietly superb prose. But Danny's CVID is serious and worsening, and his improvement from Clover's nearness is fading. Haydu doesn't romanticize illness, but she provides comfort through art, science, magic, love, and a purple suitcase. A sharp, clear-cut piece that knows life is beautiful and sickness isn't. (Fiction. 10-13)

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June 1, 2017

Gr 4-6-Fifth graders Clover and Danny are best friends and have had an incredibly close bond since they were babies. Early on in the novel, Danny develops a serious illness that eludes his doctors and keeps him out of school, leaving Clover to navigate the social side of school without him. When it comes time to choose a science fair topic, Clover decides to study Danny's illness, reasoning that she knows and cares more about him than his doctors do, and slowly deduces that his condition improves when the two are together. At the same time, Clover is learning about symbiosis and thinks there may be a special link between her and Danny that eases his symptoms. Concerned that Danny's doctors aren't doing enough and that he is running out of time, Clover and Danny devise a secret plan that combines Danny's dream of seeing snow for the first time with a visit to the Somerset Clinic, a facility that specializes in a holistic approach to healing. Clover is a compassionate and reflective narrator, and readers will experience her anxiety and overwhelming need to help her friend. The parents are portrayed with refreshing honesty, as are the challenges in various relationships and friendships. While the last few chapters of the book, after Danny's death, are fragmented, they perfectly capture the unfocused feeling of grief. VERDICT Haydu does not shield readers from hard truths, creating complex characters who face difficult situations. This sensitive work will strike an emotional chord with middle graders.-Juliet Morefield, Multnomah County Library, OR

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2017
A science-class lesson on symbiosis gives Florida fifth grader Clover a perfect metaphor for describing her relationship with her best friend, Danny. After Danny develops an autoimmune disorder that leaves his health deteriorating quickly, Clover finds that her presence is the only thing that eases his symptoms. But even that becomes less effective with time. As the adults in their lives struggle to find a treatment for Danny, Clover decides to find a cure herself. She hatches a plan: the two of them will stow away on her truck-driver father's next trip north, achieving a double goal of getting Danny to a holistic clinic in Vermont and giving the two Floridians a chance to see snow for the first time. Haydu maintains a balance between the flights of fancy of a ten-year-old's mind and the pathos of Danny's decline and Clover's grief. The supporting characters--science teacher Ms. Mendez, Clover's autistic brother Jake, a variety of classmates--are fully realized and make solid contributions to the narrative. The story's ambiguity surrounding Clover's effect on Danny, which is both real and unexplained, leaves readers to draw their own conclusions and offers plenty of room for discussion and interpretation. sarah rettger

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2017
Florida fifth grader Clover finds that her presence is the only thing that eases the symptoms of her best friend's autoimmune disorder. As even that becomes less effective with time, Clover schemes to take Danny to a holistic clinic in Vermont. Haydu balances a ten-year-old's flights of fancy with the pathos of Danny's decline. Ambiguity surrounding Clover's effect on Danny leaves room for interpretation.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from May 15, 2017
Grades 3-6 *Starred Review* It seems to happen suddenly for Clover. One minute, her best friend Danny is perfectly fine, sitting next to her in their fifth-grade class, as always, and the next, he's fallen to the floor. Then come the absences from school, and the tests and lack of concrete answers from Danny's doctors. As far back as Clover can remember, she and Danny have been practically symbiotic, but is there a line between symbiotic and codependent? As Danny's unknown illness, later determined to be common variable immune deficiency, or CVID, progresses, Clover decides to use him as her science fair project. She hypothesizes that it's actually her presence that alleviates his symptoms. But what if her magic isn't enough? Haydu's second middle-grade novel is poignant and powerful. Clover's efforts to save Danny become more and more draining, robbing her of many regular childhood joys in a way that is painfully honest about the real experiences shared by friends and family of the terminally ill. The boy-girl friendship between Clover and Danny will call to mind classics like Bridge to Terabithia (1977). While a story with this subject could stray into saccharine territory, Haydu never lets it, consistently grounding us in Clover's perspective, and her hope, resilience, and belief in both science and magic ring true. A heartbreaking story about the healing power of friendship amid human fragility.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)