Chris Kersh: Sela and the Wobble, Gebunden

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Hazel knows the song by heart. She sings it in the shower, she sings it to her dog. But the second her teacher asks who wants the big solo, a door slams shut in her throat, and all she can whisper is "pass." That swallowed voice wakes up a beast. It's the Wobble, a cold, jiggly jelly blob that only Hazel can see. Every time she keeps her words inside, it grows one notch. It eats her socks. It boings down the hall after her. And as the school show gets closer, it gets so big it learns to talk, and every sweet thing it says is a lie: don't say it, you can't say it wrong, just stay quiet, just stay safe.

Then help crashes in through the skylight. Sela is an Agent Angel who cannot stop singing, even when she tries to be serious, even between words. She thinks the microphone is a magic singing ice-cream cone, and she is a little scared of it. Sela can hold the Wobble back, but she can't sing Hazel's line for her. Only Hazel can do that, and it starts with the bravest thing a quiet kid can do: letting one clear note out loud, even when her knees shake. But the Fall Welcome show is Friday, the whole town will be watching, and Hazel has to say the very first line.

At its heart is one warm idea: the King made your voice on purpose and there is no voice like it anywhere, so it counts even when it shakes, and maybe the scared little peeps count most of all, because those ones took the most brave. Hazel learns that brave and scared can ride together, that she doesn't have to feel un-scared to do the hard thing, and that the voice telling her to stay quiet and small is never on her side. The courage is bite-size, one note and then one more, with Sela helping her find the right size, not too big and not too small, just plain true Hazel.

Faith here is simple and warm, the way a nervous kid needs it. The night before the show, Hazel says a small, scared call upstairs to the King, and He hears every bit of it. The Christian values are lived out in the story, never delivered as a lecture.

Good to know before you buy: it's written for ages 6 to 9, read aloud from 6 and self-read by most kids at 7 or 8, with short chapters and black-and-white illustrations throughout. The beast is funny, never scary, a big jiggly baby that eats socks and loses to a clear little note. This is a complete story with a real ending (Book 3 of the Agent Angels series, and it reads great on its own).

Hand this one to any kid who has ever frozen up when everyone turned to look. Perfect for the shy one, the new kid, or anybody learning that a shaky voice is still a brave one. Fair warning: you may be asked to sing the welcome line at full volume, with a big finish.