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From Publisher's Weekly

August 16, 2004
Even after her parents disappear at sea, an 11-year-old girl is convinced that they are still alive. As she is shuffled from household to household, the heroine delivers a "lively recital of her misadventures," PW
wrote in a starred review. "A laugh-out-loud pleasure from beginning to triumphant end." Ages 10-up.

From Publisher's Weekly

Starred review from April 4, 2001
Horvath (The Trolls) delivers another hilariously puckish read with this tale of a (possibly) orphaned girl from a small Canadian fishing village. Eleven-year-old Primrose Squarp refuses to attend the memorial service for her parents after they disappear at sea. "Haven't you ever just known something deep in your heart without reason?" she demands of all and sundry, convinced her parents are still alive. Meanwhile, she is shuffled from the custody of her elderly neighbor Miss Perfidy to her likable but somewhat feckless Uncle Jack. Not unlike another beloved red-haired Canadian heroine, Primrose whose own hair is "the color of carrots in an apricot glaze (recipe to follow)" attracts trouble like a magnet. In addition to singeing the fur on the class guinea pig, she manages to lose a baby toe and part of a finger in chapters entitled "I Lose a Toe" and "I Lose Another Digit" accidents that land her in the foster care of an older couple whose stature and girth give them the look of "kindly old hard-boiled eggs." Primrose's lively recital of her misadventures comes complete with recipes, pungent descriptions ("the feeling of joy swept through my soul like fire up a vacuum") and memorable characters, among them the tough-talking, golden-hearted owner of a local restaurant that serves everything (even fish and chips) on waffles. A laugh-out-loud pleasure from beginning to triumphant end. Ages 10-up.

From AudioFile Magazine

Start with that wacky name--Primrose Squarp--and the fact that her best friend's restaurant serves everything on a waffle (even if you order a waffle!)--and it's a good guess that listeners are in for a tall tale. Eleven-year-old Primrose, a Coal Harbor, British Columbia, orphan, believes that both of her parents, thought to have been lost at sea, will one day return to her, from the belly of the whale, as it were. Life with her mothball-ridden, squeaky-voiced, acrimonious guardian, Miss Perfidy, is dreary, with only the gruff, tough Miss Bowzer and her recipes to cheer her. When the vibrant but self-important Uncle Jack arrives to take over her care, he further complicates the plot with his real estate dealings and neglect. Kathleen McInerney's reading of the confident, earnest, and pragmatic first-person narration includes the delivery of a series of recipes between chapters. A wild romp through unlikely and humorous waters. T.B. 2003 ALA Notable Recording (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine