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guessgreenleaf's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-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
Content Warnings
Minor: Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and War
nichole1988's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
chrissyz's review against another edition
bored. wasnt connecting enough and not enough plot
jls12's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
Overall an enjoyable read. I don’t have a huge interest in Vietnam war history but I still found it interesting. I found it very emotional at times. It was sad to see how a lot of ppl felt about Vietnam War soldiers and veterans. I wish there was a bit more about Lucy and Milo exploring the mystery of the Purple Heart, but I know that wasn’t the point of the story.
hcat129's review against another edition
Didn’t have time but will come back to later.
lonelyasfranz's review against another edition
3.0
Sweet and engaging, but with many fatal flaws. Repetitive platitudes and underdeveloped characters undermined the book, but overall it was decent. It just didn’t quite hit any of the targets; it always fell flat. It never went very deep into what it brought up and felt exceedingly shallow because of this. The guiding features of the plot (Lucy’s father and the mystery veteran) weren’t shown enough and thus did not feel important. It all felt like random bits of the author’s family mashed together with history to make one weird, formless “story”. There was just not enough emotion invested in it. One significant thing is that it was told in the third person and yet dealt almost entirely with Lucy’s thoughts and emotions. First person would have been an infinitely better choice, as it would make it clearer that the book is not actually about the Vietnam War, but about Lucy. Instead, it just felt like a constant let-down. Not quite a waste of time, but there are countless other books that would be far better for a youth to read. I suppose I’d recommend it, though.
shirleytupperfreeman's review against another edition
Fans of Gary Schmidt's Okay For Now will enjoy this Vietnam era middle reader. Lucy is an only child in an otherwise large, noisy Italian extended family. Lucy's surgeon father has just returned from a year in Vietnam - minus an arm. Lucy and her dad had been very close before the war and now things are different. Time, extended family, a special librarian and a new friend named Milo help Lucy and her family adjust to their changed circumstances. This is a tender coming-of-age story to be published in June 2018.
crystal_reading's review against another edition
4.0
ARC via publisher. Review to come.
I forgot to write my review when I first read this so am catching up now. I still remember much about this book even more than a year after reading. Lucy is dealing with a dad who is recovering from war. He was injured and no longer has one of his arms, but there is way more missing than a body part. This is a book that digs into some of the effects that can happen after serving in the military during war time.
There's also a mystery to solve and a neighborhood boy who also has a father who is still in Vietnam. As they investigate the mystery together, Lucy learns a lot about herself and about how she relates to others.
Milo and Lucy both learn a lot about how we can't actually change others, but we can be there for them. There's some heartbreak in this story, but there's also healing. It'll speak to readers who've had people in their lives with big hurts, big scars that seem like they'll never heal.
I forgot to write my review when I first read this so am catching up now. I still remember much about this book even more than a year after reading. Lucy is dealing with a dad who is recovering from war. He was injured and no longer has one of his arms, but there is way more missing than a body part. This is a book that digs into some of the effects that can happen after serving in the military during war time.
There's also a mystery to solve and a neighborhood boy who also has a father who is still in Vietnam. As they investigate the mystery together, Lucy learns a lot about herself and about how she relates to others.
Milo and Lucy both learn a lot about how we can't actually change others, but we can be there for them. There's some heartbreak in this story, but there's also healing. It'll speak to readers who've had people in their lives with big hurts, big scars that seem like they'll never heal.
the_fabric_of_words's review against another edition
5.0
I strongly recommend pairing fiction and non-fiction texts to teach both English Language Arts and Social Studies Common Core standards in middle school. For several years, I've looked for a fiction text that I felt captured the milieu of the Vietnam War and its social nuances in a way that students could connect with the story.
I recently finished reading this gem, Everything Else in the Universe, and at last, I felt like I'd found a fiction text to pair with a non-fiction text set in this time period. The author, Tracy Holczer, says a teaching guide may be in the works for the paperback edition. When it's available, I'll post on my blog about it.
In the meantime, I checked the usual pay-for-teaching-resources websites, and still, nothing's been offered for sale. Yet. I say "yet" because this is an awesome book, very teachable, and it hits many of the CC standards for ELA in 7th and 8th grades, and SS in 8th. And students will love it! If anyone identifies a CC-aligned, teaching resource for this novel, ELA or SS, even if it's offered for sale, please share it with me!
Everything speaks to middle school students, and yet also captures what it was like to live during the era, with the contrast of the two characters - one whose father comes home forever changed and the other whose father dies. It is heartbreaking, both in the main character's longing for life with her dad to go back to way it had been (and of course it never will), and the secondary character who hides the fact that his father is killed in Vietnam just a few weeks short of coming home.
If you would have teaching materials for this novel you would like to share, please visit my blog and leave a comment: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/blog/paired-texts-vietnam-war
I recently finished reading this gem, Everything Else in the Universe, and at last, I felt like I'd found a fiction text to pair with a non-fiction text set in this time period. The author, Tracy Holczer, says a teaching guide may be in the works for the paperback edition. When it's available, I'll post on my blog about it.
In the meantime, I checked the usual pay-for-teaching-resources websites, and still, nothing's been offered for sale. Yet. I say "yet" because this is an awesome book, very teachable, and it hits many of the CC standards for ELA in 7th and 8th grades, and SS in 8th. And students will love it! If anyone identifies a CC-aligned, teaching resource for this novel, ELA or SS, even if it's offered for sale, please share it with me!
Everything speaks to middle school students, and yet also captures what it was like to live during the era, with the contrast of the two characters - one whose father comes home forever changed and the other whose father dies. It is heartbreaking, both in the main character's longing for life with her dad to go back to way it had been (and of course it never will), and the secondary character who hides the fact that his father is killed in Vietnam just a few weeks short of coming home.
If you would have teaching materials for this novel you would like to share, please visit my blog and leave a comment: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/blog/paired-texts-vietnam-war