This novel for young artists features, fourth grade Noonie, feeling alone in the world.  Her mother died when Noonie was five and her father is off on archeology digs, so Noonie lives with her aunt, uncle, and cousin.  Not a great student, Noonie doodles during class and lands herself in the principal’s office far too often.  The bright spot in her life comes when there’s an art contest at school.  Noonie thinks if she wins, it will bring her father home.  The charm of this book is the artwork decorating  nearly every page.  Sometimes the page is artistic because the text font is in different colors, sometimes the page is in a color other than white, but mostly there’s colorful abstract artwork to help tell the story in Noonie’s world.  This book will attract the attention of kids who love to draw.