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klra's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Alba's dad is physically abusive towards her mom, and her mom sends her to Barcelona, her home town, for an undetermined amount of time. For a while Alba struggles, but eventually she learns to take care of herself, and take care of the people around her. It's a beautiful story, and when mom comes to Barcelona for some healing of her own, Alba and her begin to fix their relationship
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Abandonment and Physical abuse
sreddous's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is a subtle and mature look into how domestic violence can uproot a family. There's some dark and difficult family stuff in here -- but, it's family stuff that real-life tweens have to face sometimes. This book and its plot and characters handle these difficult topics with nuance, slow pacing, and a lot of grace.
My favorite part of this book is watching how Alba mulls over considering her own coping skills. Things like forgiveness and understanding are beautiful but complicated, and it's satisfying and interesting to watch Alba sort through all her complicated feelings. In this regard, I personally really liked the slow pacing.
The little romance is cute. The friendships with the other kids as well as the inter-generational friendships are all wholesome and well-developed. It's lovely to see how Alba learns valuable lessons and coping skills and finds love and patience from all sorts of diverse people.
For younger readers, I would add that there are some jokes that I'd maybe describe as PG-13, they're sort of potty jokes where the word "penis" is actually said -- I'd say this book should be "upper middle grade" and is almost YA because it's not unrealistic that tweens/middle-schoolers make dick jokes and such sometimes. But still, it might be a biiiiit much for elementary-school-ages. It didn't really bother me, but I can see why some people might think the dick jokes are a bit much for the advertised age group.
(Content warning: domestic violence)
My favorite part of this book is watching how Alba mulls over considering her own coping skills. Things like forgiveness and understanding are beautiful but complicated, and it's satisfying and interesting to watch Alba sort through all her complicated feelings. In this regard, I personally really liked the slow pacing.
The little romance is cute. The friendships with the other kids as well as the inter-generational friendships are all wholesome and well-developed. It's lovely to see how Alba learns valuable lessons and coping skills and finds love and patience from all sorts of diverse people.
For younger readers, I would add that there are some jokes that I'd maybe describe as PG-13, they're sort of potty jokes where the word "penis" is actually said -- I'd say this book should be "upper middle grade" and is almost YA because it's not unrealistic that tweens/middle-schoolers make dick jokes and such sometimes. But still, it might be a biiiiit much for elementary-school-ages. It didn't really bother me, but I can see why some people might think the dick jokes are a bit much for the advertised age group.
(Content warning: domestic violence)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Domestic abuse
Minor: Cursing
clarabooksit's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse
Minor: Racism
imstephtacular's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Grief, Bullying, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content
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