Kate O'Shaughnessy can be a hit or miss author for me. Some of her books are so strong, and some just miss the mark. This one is very strong. This is Kate O'Shaughnessy can be a hit or miss author for me. Some of her books are so strong, and some just miss the mark. This one is very strong. This is also a book that I think kid readers will perceive totally differently from adults. Not in a bad way, but in a way that is really interesting. This book is really interesting, nuanced, compelling, and utterly unreliable up until the end. The only thing I didn't like was the Spirit of the Sea nonsense. It didn't add to the story. It felt thrown in and out of place in an otherwise very tight story....more
Oh man. There was so much about this book I really liked. Mani is a likable character, and I think readers will really root for her and her friends asOh man. There was so much about this book I really liked. Mani is a likable character, and I think readers will really root for her and her friends as they find their place between childhood and growing up. I also think that many young readers will benefit from learning how Mani and her friends stand up for themselves and organize to take action against inequity. BUT, man oh man the pacing of this book was really off. I felt like I had been reading forever and ever by the time any of the main action actually started. I kept feeling like I should be nearing the end of the story when a new element would be introduced. It didn't even feel too long, necessarily, but the pacing didn't seem correct. I was disappointed by that, because I think that might lose a few reluctant readers' attention as well....more
I never got around to reading Zarr's A Song Called Home, which this book is a follow-up to, but I don't think it really impacted my reading experienc I never got around to reading Zarr's A Song Called Home, which this book is a follow-up to, but I don't think it really impacted my reading experience. I love when that happens. I love when a stand alone follow-up actually does stand alone. I also loved this empathetic book about a girl with an alcoholic mother who has to figure out how to cope after she fears her mother has relapsed. Emotional and heavy, this book is an important window, mirror, and sliding glass door into the life of a child with an alcoholic parent. Beautifully told....more
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