Lynn: Turning thirteen is a big milestone for most people but in the Beaumont family it is truly life changing. Thirteen is when the Beaumont savvy appears. Each person’s savvy is different. There is Fish who causes hurricanes, Rocket who generates electricity and Great Aunt Jules who time-travels every time she sneezes. Mississippi (Mibs) thinks she knows what her savvy is and it couldn’t be more important. Mibs’ father lies in a coma in the hospital after a car accident and Mibs is sure her savvy is to wake things up. Somehow she has to travel the ninety miles to Salina to help Poppa. It seems like such a good idea to sneak aboard the pink bible bus but nothing is ever simple when it comes to the Beaumonts!I have a great weakness for books with quirky characters and Law’s delightful cast is that in spades - and endearing as well. Debut author Law manages her imaginative confection with a sure hand, utilizing folksy dialog deftly and steering clear of the easy ending. Mibs’ fresh voice will go straight to the hearts of teens who share her struggle to navigate adolescence. I admit to reaching for a tissue at the conclusion and wishing we all could have a savvy of our own. I can’t wait to see what Ingrid Law does next!
3 comments:
I LOVED this book and hope it gets something at Newbery time. An Indie book store owner shared her arc with me and I must confess that it got lost in the shuffle. I ended up choosing it for review for the NJ State Library and I didn't want it to end. What a great family!
I agree with you. I can't wait to read what Law has up next. Happy New Year.
I got about half way through this one, but got totally distracted by what I saw as a flaw in the logic of Mibs's Savvy. She's supposed to be able to hear the internal voice of people via their tattoo or other ink-drawn item on their skin, but in the cse of the bus driver, she can hear the thoughts of his ex-wife and mother, who are nowhere in the vicinity except as tattoos on the driver. It seemed to me to be an inconsistency in the Savvy and it pulled me out of the book. I'll go back and finish it, but while there's a lot to like in the book, this inconsistency spoiled it for me. Judith
Forgot to tick "email comments". Ignore this--purely functional!
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