Last year I was teaching ELA in high school. One of my writing prompts was to write a short story from the perspective of an inanimate object. I had a photograph of a streetcar, an automobile, advertising sign and more. All of the photos, plus our detailed speech about the essay, had enough details to inspire those high school kids to write something with a modicum of meaning, creativity or heart. Olivetti was an mglit book that we really enjoyed. Author Allie Millington’s book, Trunk No. 3 follows a similar set up. Does it payoff as efficiently as a story from the perspective of a typewriter?
The answer to that isn’t as simple as yes or no. If a book by the same author too closely follows its contemporaries, then it’s could be nothing more than walking in its footsteps. It is a fine line between reminding readers why they initially enjoyed the book and adding new mojo that isn’t repetitive.
Early Grey is an eleven-year-old girl who lives with her father at the Repertorium. The Repertorium is a community library, of sorts, that has books and other objects. Everything there has a memory it can share with others. If someone touches a trinket that was acquired a visit to the beach, then they’ll be transported to that memory.
Cleo is the other main human in the story. He’s the same age as Earl Grey, but isn’t nearly as happy. The day we meet him he’s in a park with his class, but he’s going to run away from home that night. Cleo stumbles across an old, weathered suitcase in the park. It’s a strange place to leave luggage, but since he’s about to make a run for it, he grabs it.
His class is on the way to a field trip to the Repertorium, where its role in the community is explained. The store is in trouble financially and might have to close if things don’t improve quickly.
Cleo receives many strange looks when he’s walking through town with the stolen suitcase. Once home, he remembers that his mother suggested that he write things when he’s feeling frustrated or can’t verbalize what’s going on. Cleo writes that he’s running away with a brief explanation of how he’s feeling and places it his stolen trunk, and slides it under his bed.
A couple of blocks away, Earl Grey hears a very faint flutter in a trunk marked Number 2. She opens up the trunk and discovers the note from Cleo. She’s bewildered as to how a random note could appear in her trunk. However, she lives in a place where memories are in every object, so she gamely plays along and responds with her own note. This starts a friendship with the two pre-teens bonding over notes and physical objects sent through the trunks. Their growing friendship isn’t enough to solve their individual problems and it all culminates in a memory that just might ease their problems and save the Repertorium.
Middle-grade readers who enjoy reading will dig Trunk No. 3. For us, the book didn’t have the same flow and energy of Olivetti. The best parts of the book were when the two tweens were bonding over their mystical correspondence. Aspects of the Repertorium never resonated with us. Is it a holodeck? It’s a Sixth Sense type thing where visitors dig into the memories like it’s a dream state.
As the book approached its climax it did clear up the story. Younger readers might not have the same pause that I had while reading the book. They’ll certainly be more in tune with the pre-teen drama the two characters are wrestling with. My expectations for Trunk No. 3 might’ve been unrealistic too. The cover has a trunk with dozens of pages whirling around as its open. My mind was expecting more magic and wonder, when in reality the book delivers more drama and fantasy.
If you read Once For Yes, Millington’s second book, and enjoyed it, then Trunk No. 3 is just the right mix for you. Her first book seemed to have more humor and was more fun to read. Trunk No. 3 won’t do the trick for reluctant readers, but for mglit audiences who enjoy a calm, patient yarn it’ll send them packing.
Trunk No. 3 is from Allie Millington and is available on Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan.
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