Reviews with content warning for Mass/school shootings - The Benefits of Being an Octopus

This is such a super good book to introduce the really hard issues of classism and gun control and domestic violence. It's so beautifully written, and my heart really hurt for Zoey, who was dealing with so so much when her job should have been just to get through middle school. I'd absolutely read Ms. Braden again, and I'd definitely buy this book for the young folks in my life.

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rachaelbunny's review

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challenging emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.75

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aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

3.0

An easy read which touches on a lot of topics that are applicable to both school age children and adults. I would've liked the author to have gone more indepth with some of the topics because by the end it felt a little rushed/too quickly and neatly wrapped up. But I also understand this is for a younger audience so there is only so much detail or depth you can go without it being too heavy/dark for said younger audience. I did enjoy Zoey's growth throughout and a sort of found family situation at the end.

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corriejn's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

I think this could have been a better middle-grades book, but it tried to do a bit too much.

The main character is a middle school girl in a Vermont, growing up in poverty; her family had previously been homeless at times, she and her siblings have 3 different fathers (the first 2 not in the picture) and are living with her mom's current boyfriend/the father of the youngest sibling, who is very controlling but emotionally abusive but provides a somewhat more financially stable living situation. That could be the core of the story-- the stresses of growing up in poverty, how she is treated by classmates, the strain of having to put up with bad living situations due to financial limits. But there are all these additional themes that the author tried to toss in as well, but of course didn't have space to deal with any of them well: hunting and gun rights debates, police brutality against Black Americans (via a token black classmate whose sole contribution to the story is to occasionally voice concerns related to being Black), foster care, alcoholism, school shootings/lockdowns, whether it's ok for boys to cry, and the treatment of the school "loner" to whom other kids assign sinister intentions. Whew. Oh and another threatening a child with violence. Throw in a fairly flat character of a teacher who takes interest in the main character (for pretty unclear reasons, the student reminds the teacher of herself) and takes her under her wing, offering pithy advice that it's unclear how the main character actually applies. Oh and don't forget the mom's gay work friend, whom her boyfriend hates with a passion for unknown reasons (the main character speculates that she isn't sure if it's because that friend is gay, or some other reason).

It ends up being a bit of a grab-bag of "real life hard topics" while not doing justice to most of them.

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siobhanl_'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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bandysbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I didn’t realize this was a Middle Grade book when I first picked up the audiobook through the library, but it became pretty clear pretty quickly. The narration is simple and though it does cover some deep topics, it does them in the way a child would understand.

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