Responsible William (12), troublemaker Edmund (11), and sensitive Anna (9) have just lost their grandmother, a less-than-stellar guardian. Now truly orphaned, the three white siblings are evacuated from London to the English countryside as part of Operation Pied Piper in 1940. The family lawyer has a “preposterous plan”: He hopes the children will find a family during evacuation that wants to adopt them for their own merits rather than the money they’ve inherited. They are first billeted with the Forresters, a family whose parents are largely clueless that their twin sons are relentless bullies. They are next placed with Mrs. Griffith, who is poor, overwhelmed with four young children of her own, and eager for free help. Voracious readers, the siblings take refuge from the indignities, hardships, and crises of both placements at the library, where the savvy librarian puts books in their hands. Mrs. Muller, the librarian, is spirited, generous, and kind, but has been deemed an “unsuitable” foster because she was married to a German man. While the plot arc and final destination of this orphan story are totally predictable—of course Mrs. Muller will adopt them, and gain acceptance in the community, too—it’s a pleasure getting there, not only because the characters and characterizations are more nuanced than expected, but because of a few surprising curves on the journey in a story steeped in love for books and reading. (Ages 8-10)