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bookbrig's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
A quick, engaging read that would be a good fit for our 6th grade readers. The magic is fun, the stakes felt realistic with just enough suspense but not too scary, and the friendship between the characters was really the star of the show. One of the things that bothered me but may not stick out to kid readers was the way "good" character traits align with "good" looks. I don't love the VERY PREVALENT narrative in media in general aligning beauty with heroism/intelligence/kindness/etc. and I feel like this book leaned into that idea more than I would like.
There was also one particular line I really disliked about Callie's weight. She's self-described as chubby, and her weight comes up several times both as something she's sometimes insecure about and as something used to bully her by other characters. At one point a character calls her a "hippo" and her best friend reassures her by saying something along the lines of "don't listen to them, you aren't fat." That's a really loaded way to say: you ARE fat but I associate fat with bad, and you are NOT bad, so you can't be fat. Again, this isn't something I think will leap out at kids or slimmer readers, but it definitely jumped out at me. This article on Medium does a much better job of explaining: What Happens When You Call Your Fat Friend Beautiful and if you have the time it's a great read.
ANYWAY that small frustration aside, I do think this is worth booktalking to kids and I'll be using it this fall for at least our 6th graders.
There was also one particular line I really disliked about Callie's weight. She's self-described as chubby, and her weight comes up several times both as something she's sometimes insecure about and as something used to bully her by other characters. At one point a character calls her a "hippo" and her best friend reassures her by saying something along the lines of "don't listen to them, you aren't fat." That's a really loaded way to say: you ARE fat but I associate fat with bad, and you are NOT bad, so you can't be fat. Again, this isn't something I think will leap out at kids or slimmer readers, but it definitely jumped out at me. This article on Medium does a much better job of explaining: What Happens When You Call Your Fat Friend Beautiful and if you have the time it's a great read.
ANYWAY that small frustration aside, I do think this is worth booktalking to kids and I'll be using it this fall for at least our 6th graders.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming and Bullying
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