Written in the same sweet and quirky style as Krone’s award-winning debut novel Small Mercies, which was named a Best Middle-Grade Book of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews and listed on the 2021 Outstanding International Books List by the United States Board on Books for Young People, The Cedarville Shop and the Wheelbarrow Swap is bursting with the heart and humor of the loveable main character Boi, but etched with the cultural acuity and practiced hand of the author. Young readers will recognize themselves in Boi’s universally relevant desires of a young pre-teen-love, friendship, belonging, and hope for a bigger future-and older readers will find much to explore in the book’s quiet reflections on the circumstances of growing up destitute, with unemployed parents and ailing elders. Based in a small, rural town in South Africa not far from the author’s home, with a young Black narrator, this book includes just enough geographical nuance to be educational for young readers, encouraging them to imagine life in other cultures, countries, and classes. Krone’s books capture the essence of this wonderful mess we call life and will bring out the inner child in readers of all ages.