Polly Horvath has written a delicious and head-spinning turn on the problem novel. “There are always problems in the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Pepin; their children, Petunia and Irving; their dog, Roy; their cat, Miranda; and their very fine neighbour Mr. Bradshaw.” Indeed, the problem-prone Pepins face such bizarre dilemmas that they’re incapable of finding solutions without the help of us, the “dear readers.” Horvath instructs us to think of solutions “very hard” and send them westward telepathically (she lives in B.C.). She then reports back to us and to the Pepins. The problem is solved, but another one erupts before the close of the chapter and it all begins again. Horvath’s skill is such that the reader is in collusion with both the author and the Pepins by the end of the first chapter.

A sampling of the Pepin problems includes: their cow giving lemonade rather than milk; an invasion by a long-lost stranger; Mrs. Pepin feeling heartsick over not being Queen of anything; and their very fine neighbour falling in love with a barbershop pole. The only things more preposterous than the Pepins’ problems are their solutions. Nonetheless, each new episode is compelling. Will the muddled Pepins ever be able to manage?

While stirring in arch Victorian ingredients with pinches of Roald Dahl and P.G. Wodehouse, Horvath serves up an original recipe. The author is aided and abetted by Marylin Hafner’s perfect line illustrations. A recent recipient of both the CLA Young Adult Book Award and the National Book Award, Horvath is never condescending. Readers (and reviewers) will scurry to their dictionaries and atlases looking up obscure Canadian place names and words like “perspicacious.” Horvath’s disciplined wordplay and attention to rhythm almost demand that the book be read out loud. The Pepins will work wonderfully as a classroom read from teacher to students, or from parent to child, sibling to sibling … or, perhaps best of all, with the door closed alone in your room, using only your plummiest voice.