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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
Sincerely, Harriet is a lovely little book about a young girl living with Multiple Sclerosis. Harriet's family have moved to a new apartment in a new city in the middle of summer break, and the loneliness is getting to her. She writes postcards to her friends, but they never write back. She has reading to finish, but she hates the books. But worst of all, her MS seems to be flaring up again.
This book is really rather sad. Harriet is miserable, she misses having friends and worries about the effect her illness has on herself, and her family. Harriet's parents, and her downstairs neighbour Pearl (who also owns the building) all try and help Harriet in their own ways, but still she feels alone. It's sad, but quite beautiful.
The art is really lovely too...especially the eyes. Every time Harriet's face gets a close up, her eyes speak volumes to me.
This book is really rather sad. Harriet is miserable, she misses having friends and worries about the effect her illness has on herself, and her family. Harriet's parents, and her downstairs neighbour Pearl (who also owns the building) all try and help Harriet in their own ways, but still she feels alone. It's sad, but quite beautiful.
The art is really lovely too...especially the eyes. Every time Harriet's face gets a close up, her eyes speak volumes to me.
A graphic novel about Harriet who is struggling both with moving to a new place and with her chronic illness. She struggles with the changes, are tries to make things more exciting for herself by making up stories about the people in her new neighborhood and the girls she went to camp with.
This book did a great job representing a chronic illness and the very real fear Harriet has about it. It is also shows an unrequited crush and how Harriet isn't quiet sure how to deal with it, it was a bit sad to be honest. But important because the main character is going through a lot and the story doesn't shy away from it.
This book did a great job representing a chronic illness and the very real fear Harriet has about it. It is also shows an unrequited crush and how Harriet isn't quiet sure how to deal with it, it was a bit sad to be honest. But important because the main character is going through a lot and the story doesn't shy away from it.
Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Harriet Flores recently moved to Chicago with her family. It's still the summer, so she doesn't have an easy way to connect with new people. Even worse, her old friends from summer camp aren't responding to her letters. Harriet's parents are both settling in at new jobs, working lots of hours, and she's left feeling very lonely.
Over the course of the book, Harriet builds a relationship with Mrs. Pearl, her downstairs neighbor. They connect over books, writing, but also over living with chronic illness -- it turns out that Harriet has MS, while Mrs. Pearl's son had polio back in the 1950s.
I loved how bits of information about Harriet were revealed slowly. At first, she seems to just be a sullen teenager with a tendency to tell lies. But as more of her experiences come to light, you can see that Harriet is desperate for some genuine connection, especially someone she can relate to about her illness. There are some great literary references, but apart from maybe recognizing titles, I'm not sure many students would make the connections. I loved the artwork -- it was comforting and added a lightness to a story that otherwise could be depressing. Overall, this is a strong title that I would recommend.
Harriet Flores recently moved to Chicago with her family. It's still the summer, so she doesn't have an easy way to connect with new people. Even worse, her old friends from summer camp aren't responding to her letters. Harriet's parents are both settling in at new jobs, working lots of hours, and she's left feeling very lonely.
Over the course of the book, Harriet builds a relationship with Mrs. Pearl, her downstairs neighbor. They connect over books, writing, but also over living with chronic illness -- it turns out that Harriet has MS, while Mrs. Pearl's son had polio back in the 1950s.
I loved how bits of information about Harriet were revealed slowly. At first, she seems to just be a sullen teenager with a tendency to tell lies. But as more of her experiences come to light, you can see that Harriet is desperate for some genuine connection, especially someone she can relate to about her illness. There are some great literary references, but apart from maybe recognizing titles, I'm not sure many students would make the connections. I loved the artwork -- it was comforting and added a lightness to a story that otherwise could be depressing. Overall, this is a strong title that I would recommend.
I'm disappointed to find myself only able to give this book two stars. I was very excited to read it because there are not many books for kids out there dealing with the subject of living with an "invisible illness" (In this case MS) and because I love graphic novels and the nuanced storytelling that can happen with the combination of text and images.
Sadly, I didn't feel this story had any nuance at all. It wasn't just a book featuring a character with an illness, that was the entire plot, as far as I could tell. In the author's note at the end, she writes, "...Harriet would tell us she loves movies, cooking, and maybe even writing. Their disabilities deserve our consideration and respect, but they don't define who they are as people." This is a wonderful sentiment and I would have loved to read a book that embodied it. However, Sincerely, Harriet takes place at a time in Harriet's life (after a move to a new city, before her doctors have helped her manage her MS) during which she really does seem to define herself by her disability.
I did not realize, after having read the entire book, that she loves watching moves or cooking. She did participate in each of these activities when an adult was available to do them with her a couple of times during the book, but the main plot point of the book seemed to be that she was sad, bored, lonely (her parents both work very long hours and leave her alone all day) and didn't have any friends, and was being given a panoply of classic books to read that she wasn't particularly interested in, and was repeatedly told to write about her feelings, which also didn't engage her enthusiasm (though she was oddly thrilled to be taken to a creative writing group at the end, despite her earlier lack of enthusiasm/satisfaction with writing.) I thought the choices the author made to make her life drab and depressing (Home alone all summer? No friends?) weren't done in a way that created an engaging narrative, it was more background shading to show how bleak Harriet felt, which isn't much of a story all by itself.
I also though the decision to place the book in the mid 1990's was odd, though it did explain why the adults persisted in giving her old classics and none of the wonderful array of more modern YA titles that might have piqued her interest and set her up for a more entertaining summer. (I found myself wondering, in fact, if this was actually the reason for the chosen time period, since there was no other reason I could identify that this story was 90's specific.) (As as side note, I do love many of the classic books she was asked to read, but they seemed like poor choices for this particular kid at this particular time in her life.)
Sadly, I didn't feel this story had any nuance at all. It wasn't just a book featuring a character with an illness, that was the entire plot, as far as I could tell. In the author's note at the end, she writes, "...Harriet would tell us she loves movies, cooking, and maybe even writing. Their disabilities deserve our consideration and respect, but they don't define who they are as people." This is a wonderful sentiment and I would have loved to read a book that embodied it. However, Sincerely, Harriet takes place at a time in Harriet's life (after a move to a new city, before her doctors have helped her manage her MS) during which she really does seem to define herself by her disability.
I did not realize, after having read the entire book, that she loves watching moves or cooking. She did participate in each of these activities when an adult was available to do them with her a couple of times during the book, but the main plot point of the book seemed to be that she was sad, bored, lonely (her parents both work very long hours and leave her alone all day) and didn't have any friends, and was being given a panoply of classic books to read that she wasn't particularly interested in, and was repeatedly told to write about her feelings, which also didn't engage her enthusiasm (though she was oddly thrilled to be taken to a creative writing group at the end, despite her earlier lack of enthusiasm/satisfaction with writing.) I thought the choices the author made to make her life drab and depressing (Home alone all summer? No friends?) weren't done in a way that created an engaging narrative, it was more background shading to show how bleak Harriet felt, which isn't much of a story all by itself.
I also though the decision to place the book in the mid 1990's was odd, though it did explain why the adults persisted in giving her old classics and none of the wonderful array of more modern YA titles that might have piqued her interest and set her up for a more entertaining summer. (I found myself wondering, in fact, if this was actually the reason for the chosen time period, since there was no other reason I could identify that this story was 90's specific.) (As as side note, I do love many of the classic books she was asked to read, but they seemed like poor choices for this particular kid at this particular time in her life.)
I received this E-ARC via Lerner Publishing Group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve seen so many great reviews for this graphic novel, but honestly, I was rather underwhelmed and found myself at the end wondering if I’d only read a partial manuscript (I hadn’t). I appreciated the author’s intent to honor the librarians who impacted her life, but the amount of page space given to discussing classic book recommendations left the already clunky plot lines with no room to breathe. The art work was cute and I loved the MS representation (though I worry readers without prior knowledge might not recognize it), but I was missing the emotional core and clear plot line I needed to give a positive review.
I’ve seen so many great reviews for this graphic novel, but honestly, I was rather underwhelmed and found myself at the end wondering if I’d only read a partial manuscript (I hadn’t). I appreciated the author’s intent to honor the librarians who impacted her life, but the amount of page space given to discussing classic book recommendations left the already clunky plot lines with no room to breathe. The art work was cute and I loved the MS representation (though I worry readers without prior knowledge might not recognize it), but I was missing the emotional core and clear plot line I needed to give a positive review.
The art is gorgeous and the story feels "real". Harriet has MS, has moved to a new city, and hasn't quite found her people up to this point in her life. The struggles are real and heartfelt. I do have to say that Harriet's parents seem pretty badass and I would love to read their story.
Like many of the other reviews point out, the description of the book doesn't quite match the experience of reading the book. While the character does suffer from a chronic mostly invivisible illness, it doesn't make its way into the story until about the halfway point, and it is unclear who the unrequited crush is.
It's a pretty decnt story about a kid who, due to loneliness, and an illness that is rarely mentioned, has become fairly unlikable. She's a bit of a mean-spirited liar, whose parents don't spend enough time to keep her poor behavior in check. Even when characters she trusts let her know that the people she lies about are good people, she is unable to accept it, and continues believing her own lies.
It's rough to root for her. And even though you feel bad that she is lonely, and worse that it is partly because of her illness, none of her behavior improves that much before the book ends.
The downstairs neighbor, a retired librarian is a great character, and I was rooting for her to have more of a positive influence on Harriet.
If you can get past the unlikable protagonist, this is a perfectly fine all-ages book. The art serves the story well, the dialogue is mostly realistic, and not everyone with a chronic illness had an inspirational story, sometimes they're also jerks, and that's a totally valid story to tell. I recommend it for kids who are avid readers, and who might be up for a discussion about why Harriet behaves the way she does in this book.
It's a pretty decnt story about a kid who, due to loneliness, and an illness that is rarely mentioned, has become fairly unlikable. She's a bit of a mean-spirited liar, whose parents don't spend enough time to keep her poor behavior in check. Even when characters she trusts let her know that the people she lies about are good people, she is unable to accept it, and continues believing her own lies.
It's rough to root for her. And even though you feel bad that she is lonely, and worse that it is partly because of her illness, none of her behavior improves that much before the book ends.
The downstairs neighbor, a retired librarian is a great character, and I was rooting for her to have more of a positive influence on Harriet.
If you can get past the unlikable protagonist, this is a perfectly fine all-ages book. The art serves the story well, the dialogue is mostly realistic, and not everyone with a chronic illness had an inspirational story, sometimes they're also jerks, and that's a totally valid story to tell. I recommend it for kids who are avid readers, and who might be up for a discussion about why Harriet behaves the way she does in this book.
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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:
Complicated
I really did like portions of the book: the Art is sensitive and lovely (if limited in scope). The characters are sincere and real. I would have loved more development and interior of Harriet.