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thenextgenlib's review against another edition
4.0
Honestly I didn’t have any expectations going into this book other than I love Kate Messner’s books. (If you haven’t read Breakout—DO IT!) I personally don’t like insect books and TBH there were a few gross moments about eating crickets
miszjeanie's review against another edition
4.0
Chirp is a worthy addition to the strong lineup of middle-grade books about consent and sexual harassment. But despite how heavy that topic can be, this book’s vibrant summer spirit brings a much needed airiness to the plot. Add an engaging mystery, a fiesty grandma, heart-tugging friendships, summer camp, entrepreneurship, and crickets — and there’s much to love! If you enjoy grandparent stories or books set in summer, then you’ll enjoy Chirp.
suvata's review against another edition
3.0
Wonderful middle-grade book!
"A deliciously layered concoction of mystery, friend bonding and girl power. . . . Messner gracefully spins multiple threads into one beautiful, empowering novel that is likely to satisfy warriors and quietly courageous readers alike." - Shelf Awareness, starred review
“Chirp is so many things: a mystery, a family story, and a story of the power of friendship. It's about learning to speak out when it seems the whole world would rather you shut up. Sure to be passed from kid to kid to kid” ―Laura Ruby, National Book Award Finalist and author of the York Trilogy
“Once again, Kate Messner has written a book that will be a dear and important friend to her readers. A loving and compelling ode to the joy of friendship, the many kinds of strength, and the everyday bravery of girls.” ―Anne Ursu, author of THE LOST GIRL
"A deliciously layered concoction of mystery, friend bonding and girl power. . . . Messner gracefully spins multiple threads into one beautiful, empowering novel that is likely to satisfy warriors and quietly courageous readers alike." - Shelf Awareness, starred review
“Chirp is so many things: a mystery, a family story, and a story of the power of friendship. It's about learning to speak out when it seems the whole world would rather you shut up. Sure to be passed from kid to kid to kid” ―Laura Ruby, National Book Award Finalist and author of the York Trilogy
“Once again, Kate Messner has written a book that will be a dear and important friend to her readers. A loving and compelling ode to the joy of friendship, the many kinds of strength, and the everyday bravery of girls.” ―Anne Ursu, author of THE LOST GIRL
sarahd7276's review against another edition
4.0
Mia is going back home after two years away. She wants to forget about the last two years: a broken arm, dropping out of gymnastics, and something else a little darker that’s buried at the bottom of her moving boxes and inside her heart. When she comes home, she finds that her gram’s cricket farm is being sabotaged. She and her friends decide that they’re going to get to the bottom of it and help her gram save the cricket farm.
A great story about the strength of spirit and how the thirty shall set you free to become the stronger version of yourself. A great girl power story!
A great story about the strength of spirit and how the thirty shall set you free to become the stronger version of yourself. A great girl power story!
tishreads's review against another edition
4.0
**This book was provided to me by NetGalley. This has not effected my opinion.**
Mia and her family are moving to Vermont to be closer to her grandmother. Gram isn't your typical old lady. In fact, she runs her own business - the business of bugs.
Gram's cricket farm has been struggling. One thing after another seems to be going wrong and Gram and Mia suspect foul play. Mia, aided by her new friends at Launch camp, come up with a plan to help. They create the Cricket Challenge where people are encouraged to try eating crickets and posting to social media. They create a new business plan to enter into the Junior Launch competition.
While Mia is making new friends and trying new things, she struggles with the fear that came with her gymnastics injury, as well as the secret that truly ended her interest in gymnastics.
This book is a great introduction to both women in entrepreneurship and the #metoo movement. Messner always does a wonderful job at bringing real world issues to her texts in a way that supports readers and starts conversation and this book continues that legacy.
Mia and her family are moving to Vermont to be closer to her grandmother. Gram isn't your typical old lady. In fact, she runs her own business - the business of bugs.
Gram's cricket farm has been struggling. One thing after another seems to be going wrong and Gram and Mia suspect foul play. Mia, aided by her new friends at Launch camp, come up with a plan to help. They create the Cricket Challenge where people are encouraged to try eating crickets and posting to social media. They create a new business plan to enter into the Junior Launch competition.
While Mia is making new friends and trying new things, she struggles with the fear that came with her gymnastics injury, as well as the secret that truly ended her interest in gymnastics.
This book is a great introduction to both women in entrepreneurship and the #metoo movement. Messner always does a wonderful job at bringing real world issues to her texts in a way that supports readers and starts conversation and this book continues that legacy.
internationalkris's review against another edition
4.0
I appreciated this book a lot. The MeToo theme was the strongest and most important for me but I also appreciated the theme of adjusting after a move and all of the interesting environmental issues that came up in connection with the grandmother's cricket farm.
jcarsrud's review against another edition
5.0
Great little story with strong messages for our young people!
itspeachie's review against another edition
3.0
I would label this average middle grade if it weren’t for the themes it discussed. beautiful and so important in that aspect.
kajh23's review against another edition
4.0
This took me by surprise. At the start, this is the story of a young girl, Mia, whose family is moving to Vermont to help her aging grandmother, who happens to run a cricket farm. The story touches upon environmental and gender issues, but seems at its heart to be about Mia dealing with the aftermath of a serious gymnastics injury. She meets new friends and begins to trust in her body again. Meanwhile, things are not well at the cricket farm. Her grandmother believes it is being sabotaged to force her into selling. As Mia and her new friends try to solve the mystery, the story evolves. It introduces relevant and timely themes such as the #metoo movement and glass ceilings, and the truth about Mia's gymnastics injury is revealed. This is somewhat intense subject matter for young readers but Messner handles it extremely well. Recommended for middle graders interested in realistic fiction. Girls, environmentally concerned kids, and gymnasts in particular.
kathryn_fletcher's review against another edition
5.0
This book has layers of plot lines, and I love it!
First, Mia and her family just moved to live near her grandmother, who owns a cricket farm. Yes, a cricket farm. To make food with them. Barbecue crickets. Maple crickets. and more! Mia and her grandmother are really close, so when she learns that Gram’s farm is in danger of closing down due to sabotage and lack of funding, Mia knows she has to do something.
Layer one: Who is sabotaging the farm? Mia and two friends go all Nancy Drew to investigate and gather clues.
Layer two: How are they going to raise an impossible amount of money to keep the farm going? Mia has ideas to drum up some business for the farm, but she’s not sure if it will work.
Layer three: Mia is recovering from a very bad broken arm. She was a gymnast until she broke the arm. Now, she can’t even look at the equipment without feeling horrible. Can she ever recover mentally from this? She has a secret she’s keeping from everyone. How is she going to find the courage to tell someone? Who can she trust with this secret?
How was the Story?
I just finished reading it. Messner is a masterful writer. I adore this book! I was a fun story but it involves a very serious topic. She handled this very well. She handled it in a way that is appropriate for middle school children. (See below the spoiler warning if you want to know more about this.)
I enjoyed the way this author wove several different storylines together with one very important theme.
What Can We Learn from Messner?
My biggest takeaway from her writing was her ability to ratchet up the tension or the stakes at the end of each chapter. This makes it very hard to put the book down at a chapter break.
Here are a few examples from the beginning of the book (so I won’t spoil anything too big!)
“Mishap? No.” Gram pointed her broom at the birds. “This is sabotage.”
End of Chapter 1
AGH! How does she know that someone is sabotaging her farm? Who is sabotaging her farm? The way this is phrased and placed is important to creating the tension. You want readers to be asking questions like this that further the plot (not questions because they are confused).
Additionally, readers, especially voracious readers are known for doing a little skimming, especially when they really get into the story and can’t wait to get to see what happens. (guilty here! Who else is in this camp?) When these readers skim, they often read first and last sentences of a paragraph, so it is important to place information strategically like this as the last sentence of the chapter.
“We’re out of options here. It’s either come up with new investors or shut down the farm.”
End of Chapter 3
Here the stakes went way up! The farm her Gram loves is in danger of being shut down. I know she’s going to try to help save the farm, so how is she going to do that? Will she succeed?
Maybe Mia didn’t have a robot in progress, or a completely coded app, or two boxes of recycled jewelry ready to go. But she had some ideas. And that was a start.
End of chapter 4
This is the moment in which the book really grabbed my attention. Before this moment, I was reading a story with some pretty good stakes, but I’ve seen that all before. Now we have a character that was being proactive. 16% of the way into the story we are at the tipping point from reactive to proactive. Often that doesn’t happen until midpoint in the story. This is one of many reasons I love this story.
First, Mia and her family just moved to live near her grandmother, who owns a cricket farm. Yes, a cricket farm. To make food with them. Barbecue crickets. Maple crickets. and more! Mia and her grandmother are really close, so when she learns that Gram’s farm is in danger of closing down due to sabotage and lack of funding, Mia knows she has to do something.
Layer one: Who is sabotaging the farm? Mia and two friends go all Nancy Drew to investigate and gather clues.
Layer two: How are they going to raise an impossible amount of money to keep the farm going? Mia has ideas to drum up some business for the farm, but she’s not sure if it will work.
Layer three: Mia is recovering from a very bad broken arm. She was a gymnast until she broke the arm. Now, she can’t even look at the equipment without feeling horrible. Can she ever recover mentally from this? She has a secret she’s keeping from everyone. How is she going to find the courage to tell someone? Who can she trust with this secret?
How was the Story?
I just finished reading it. Messner is a masterful writer. I adore this book! I was a fun story but it involves a very serious topic. She handled this very well. She handled it in a way that is appropriate for middle school children. (See below the spoiler warning if you want to know more about this.)
I enjoyed the way this author wove several different storylines together with one very important theme.
What Can We Learn from Messner?
My biggest takeaway from her writing was her ability to ratchet up the tension or the stakes at the end of each chapter. This makes it very hard to put the book down at a chapter break.
Here are a few examples from the beginning of the book (so I won’t spoil anything too big!)
“Mishap? No.” Gram pointed her broom at the birds. “This is sabotage.”
End of Chapter 1
AGH! How does she know that someone is sabotaging her farm? Who is sabotaging her farm? The way this is phrased and placed is important to creating the tension. You want readers to be asking questions like this that further the plot (not questions because they are confused).
Additionally, readers, especially voracious readers are known for doing a little skimming, especially when they really get into the story and can’t wait to get to see what happens. (guilty here! Who else is in this camp?) When these readers skim, they often read first and last sentences of a paragraph, so it is important to place information strategically like this as the last sentence of the chapter.
“We’re out of options here. It’s either come up with new investors or shut down the farm.”
End of Chapter 3
Here the stakes went way up! The farm her Gram loves is in danger of being shut down. I know she’s going to try to help save the farm, so how is she going to do that? Will she succeed?
Maybe Mia didn’t have a robot in progress, or a completely coded app, or two boxes of recycled jewelry ready to go. But she had some ideas. And that was a start.
End of chapter 4
This is the moment in which the book really grabbed my attention. Before this moment, I was reading a story with some pretty good stakes, but I’ve seen that all before. Now we have a character that was being proactive. 16% of the way into the story we are at the tipping point from reactive to proactive. Often that doesn’t happen until midpoint in the story. This is one of many reasons I love this story.