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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
Ethan is having trouble coping after a tragedy involving his best friend. His therapist calls it survivor's guilt. All he knows is that he can't stop thinking about Kacey. His parents decide to move the family from Boston to his mother's small hometown of Palm Knot, Georgia. They move in with his Grandpa Ike, whom Ethan had never met before. Grandpa Ike is very reclusive, and Ethan's mother seems furious with him. Ethan feels that his older brother blames him for the move, and messing up Roddie's chance at a baseball scholarship. Against all odds, Ethan begins to make friends again. Just when things seem to be going okay, a series of events bring it all crashing down around -- both figuratively and literally with a hurricane headed right towards them. Recommended for grades 4 & up.
There were some similar themes in Lost in the Sun and The Thing About Jellyfish and I thought both of those books handled some of those ideas better (though I thought the parents in this book were better than in Lost in the Sun). This would be a good recommendation to fans of those books though.
Ethan has a huge secret--it's why his family moved from Boston to a small town in Georgia. When he befriends Coralee, they discover that trusting a friend with a secret can backfire. But together they recognize the power of friendship, forgiveness, and family.
A lovely book for younger readers, which tackles some fairly hard-hitting themes.
When we first meet Ethan he is a rather lost soul. Feeling desperately guilty as he thinks he caused his best friend's accident, Ethan and his family have moved across country to have a fresh start.
Initially we are told little detail, but the family are clearly finding it hard to live with unresolved tensions. They circle each other, desperately unhappy, but never quite certain how to move things on.
When Ethan is befriended by larger-than-life Coralee he is reminded, a little, of how to live again. But she is also hiding secrets, and these threaten to cause real problems.
Watching Ethan come to terms with what has happened, and develop his friendships with his family, is endearing. There's some dramatic moments, but everything works out okay in the end.
When we first meet Ethan he is a rather lost soul. Feeling desperately guilty as he thinks he caused his best friend's accident, Ethan and his family have moved across country to have a fresh start.
Initially we are told little detail, but the family are clearly finding it hard to live with unresolved tensions. They circle each other, desperately unhappy, but never quite certain how to move things on.
When Ethan is befriended by larger-than-life Coralee he is reminded, a little, of how to live again. But she is also hiding secrets, and these threaten to cause real problems.
Watching Ethan come to terms with what has happened, and develop his friendships with his family, is endearing. There's some dramatic moments, but everything works out okay in the end.
When I was middle-grade aged I loved "Bridge to Terabithia", "A Day No Pigs Would Die", and "Where the Red Fern Grows". As a parent I love the lessons about grief and loss that can be learned from them. What I really enjoyed about this book was that while the aforementioned books mainly focused on the relationship leading up to the loss this mostly focused on the aftermath. It was so interesting to see how everyone in this story dealt with the different emotions. The ending may have made me cry a little bit. Okay, it definitely did. A very impactful read. I think it's one that kids could easily relate to and be interested by even with the heavy theme- which I can't always say about my forays into middle-grade reading.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Emotional and makes me every time - I feel for the character Ethan.
What a beautiful debut novel! I finished this in one sitting because it drew me in so much. The characters are fleshed out and relatable. The story itself is tragic but hopeful. It does a great job addressing friendship, grief, loss and forgiveness. A middle grade book people should definitely pick up!
Ethan and his friend Kaycee were inseparable since she was born four days after he was. When they were in ninth grade, an incident happened which separated them forever. Ethan experienced trauma which he could not overcome. His parents felt moving across the country was the only thing which could save him. So from Boston, they moved to the marshes of Georgia. There Ethan meets Coralee, a girl his age, and his maternal grandfather, Ike. As Ethan faces the events in his and Kaycee's history, he begins to open up to his new friend, Coralee and build new memories. Yet there is a mysterious house down the street, and the discovery within brings Ethan back face to face with his past. He must decide whether to take a risk and face head on the fears he has beaten back or to isolate himself within the grief. This is a beautiful, well-written story appropriate for any middle level reader. Bravo.
I wanted to like this book. I wanted this to be a book that I could give to tweens when they wanted a more serious book but are not ready for teen content. This did not happen. I am sure there will be tweens that do like this book, but there was so many things that drove me crazy. The author was trying to do so much that the book's plot was not well written. There were some lists in the book that the main character wrote to help himself calm down and they needed to either be throughout the book or not at all. Same with the story about the wolf. If this had been mentioned more throughout the book it would have made the book better.
One of the biggest problems with this book I had is that the way that the characters were written. The characters that were supposed to be 13 were not written to sound like the kids. The author also wrote very stereotypical (mean girl, weird kid, grumpy grandfather).
Overall I was not impressed and a little disappointed.
One of the biggest problems with this book I had is that the way that the characters were written. The characters that were supposed to be 13 were not written to sound like the kids. The author also wrote very stereotypical (mean girl, weird kid, grumpy grandfather).
Overall I was not impressed and a little disappointed.