Reviews

The Girl with More Than One Heart by Laura Geringer Bass

michaela_w's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

nicolemhewitt's review against another edition

This book is very sweet. It would probably be best geared toward younger middle grade readers (as long as they can handle the content, since it does involve the death of a parent). This is because the voice feels a bit young for thirteen and the writing is relatively simplistic. It would also be PERFECT for older MG readers who are at a little lower reading level than their peers but still want books that deal with topics they can relate to. This book tackles Briana's feelings about her father's death beautifully and it also features a first romance and evolving friendships.

***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via Media Masters Publicity in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***

wintermote's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Just had trouble getting into this one and really caring for what was happening. Perhaps if I had experienced a death of a parent, I would feel differently. 

kelleemoye's review against another edition

4.0

Full review with teaching tools: http://www.unleashingreaders.com/?p=17327

This book looks at the struggle of grief when life keeps moving on around you. And like another book I love, Courage for Beginners, it shows the struggle a child has if a parent is suffering and they have to step up in a way that is not what their peers have to. Briana doesn’t know how to deal with the grief and with her mother incapacitated with grief also, Briana finds that she needs a second heart to help guide her through this huge bump in her life. Briana’s story also shows the struggle yet love of being a sibling to a child with special needs.

Written beautifully in a way that will pull at your heartstrings, Bass’s story shows how one girl uses art, love, and courage to make her way through a loss that is unimaginable for most of us.

afro8921's review against another edition

5.0

When a girls father dies, she feels like she's grown another heart. This heart communicates in the voice of her father and becomes a pseudo mentor for her. Her second heart helps her deal with her mother and her autistic brother, and the way her friendships have changed. I really enjoyed this story. It covers the topics of death, depression, and familial loyalty with a realistic and fantastic eye.

bestdressedbookworm's review against another edition

5.0

This will break your heart and if it doesnt you have no soul haha. Kidding but it was a tear jerker.

suspiciouspinecone's review against another edition

2.0

This book was... interesting. The plot focuses on a girl who has just lost her father, and her relationship with her mother are brother. It was very emotional, with an interesting writing style, and it was an easy read. The plot isn't very interesting, and neither is Brianna (the protagonist). What really bothered me about this book was the portrayal of of the autistic brother. There is multiple points where Brianna wishes she could go back to when he didn't exist, and even blames him for the death of her father. It's honestly a little disturbing. What stops this book from seeming total ableist mess is that those feelings, while negative and unjust towards the brother, are understandable, and the actions of the brother himself are fairly accurate, albeit simplistic. Not recommended.

CW: Grief, depression, bullying, ableism.

lilacinniegos's review against another edition

2.0

this is a book centred around grief and while it did deal with this topic appropriately, I believe this book just wasn't for me. If I was 13 years old like the protagonist I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more - this could help so many young teenagers.
Nothing really happened in quite a short book and Brianna as a narrative was quite inconsistent. Honestly I was just very bored and it wasn't an enjoyable reading experience. Some aspects played out too quickly while others we didn't even get to see.
However, if I had a younger sibling I would definitely give them this book to read.

thechronicknitter's review against another edition

5.0

At the beginning of eighth grade Briana finds her father dead and slumped over his stationary bike right before school. After she finds him she imagines she has grown another heart, her dad-heart, that lives in her stomach. It sings songs her dad used to sing, speaks in his voice, and she feels it's trying to send her a message. One she has to figure out and listen to.

After her father's funeral at the synagogue, lead by their rabbi, her mother immediately falls into a deep depression. Briana is abruptly the sole caretaker of her younger, 5-year-old brother, Aaron. That would be difficult enough if Aaron were "normal" but as a child who is on the autism spectrum things can get difficult quickly, and their mom, Lily, was really the only one who could get him to eat. Now their mom makes them breakfast every day, prepares lunch, and then goes shuffles back to bed. Briana is in charge of getting Aaron up and ready for school, drop-off and pick-up as well as taking him to therapy, and giving him his bath and putting him to bed at night on top of watching him after school. The real difficulty is that Briana has never really liked, or cared for Aaron. She only saw what he cost her, time with her parents, how much energy he sapped from them leaving little for her, getting praise for minimal things while she could accomplish something amazing and get little attention for it. In truth, typical feelings that occur when you are siblings with someone who has a disability/chronic illness/difference.

Briana learns who her real friends are after her father dies, and finds new ones, who are in truth overall just way better humans. There is certainly some bullying and unkindness that goes on both towards Briana as well as Aaron. Aaron's kindergarten teacher makes no effort to try to meet him half-way. To understand his point of view, why he does something the way he does it etc. and just notices that he's "not doing it like the others" and that she doesn't like that. She wants him kicked out and sent to a special school, needless to say I don't like her, and neither do the characters in the book.

Bass handles a lot of complex and heart-wrenching topics in this book. As Briana is forced to spend more and more time with Aaron, and get to know and understand him more she realizes that she does love him, no matter what. She figures out who she wants to be and works towards that, has her first almost-boyfriend, and struggles in trying to make her mom snap out of her depression so that she can get her mom back, and have at least one real parent.

Other than Aaron's neurodiversity, and their Jewish faith there aren't any other characters that would fit into a diverse cast, at least not obviously. Many of the characters have descriptions where you could imagine them in whatever way you wanted, and others are most certainly white.

This is a really amazing book on many counts. I would highly recommend it!

novelbloglover's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.75

 

Book Review 

Title: The Girl with More Than One Heart by Laura Geringer Bass 

Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary, Mental Health 

Rating: 4.75 Stars 

The opening to The Girl With More Than One Heart was interesting as we are introduced to Brianna who father had an undisclosed heart condition and he had recently died from it. Brianna around this time believes she had a second heart that speaks to get in her father's voice but it doesn't make sense to her. This might just be a child's way of dealing with the loss of a parent especially one she is close to. Brianna used to be close with her mother before the birth of her brother, Aaron but since then she had been a lot closer with her father which might explain her reaction to his death. She is not just dealing with grief and loss but the impending feelings of loneliness which isn't something someone that she should have to go through. 

As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Brianna is struggling to cope with her new reality only a month after the funeral. Brianna has taken on a more active role in caring for Aaron and his needs as her mother seems to be suffering from severe depression and because of this Brianna is isolated from her friends except Peter. When she returns to school she is slow to adjust to the fact that most of her former friends have moved on to new things and she turns to writing for an outlet. Along the way she seems to become friends with an artistic girl named Daisy who was present at the funeral and has done some really kind things for Brianna since the death of her father. During this month or so Brianna is relying on her Dad heart as she calls it give her guidance but she struggles to understand it most of the time as it seems to speak in riddles that she doesn’t really understand yet. I can sympathise with the fact that Brianna is hurting and frustrated at her situation but there isn’t really anything she can do about it until her mother pulls herself out of the depression she is in as she really should be focusing on her children first or bringing in outside support if she can’t but she isn’t willing to do that despite Brianna asking her to bring other people over during this time. 

As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, we learn Brianna is carrying around a lot of anger especially aimed at Aaron who we learn is autistic which explains his extra needs. Brianna seems resentful of Aaron and her grandfather’s devotion towards the boy and her mother’s refusal to do anything at the moment even though they are needed and there are certain things she can’t do by herself. Brianna’s friendship with Peter is also suffering because of this and it is hurting her but she seems to developing new connections with Daisy and Neill and she is also being pushed by them to write for the school paper that is coming. We can clearly see that Brianna bottled up a lot of her emotions when Aaron was born but she had her father to lean on who also felt the same way and it seems that Aaron’s social needs were causing issues in the family as her father said it was killing him and the stress might have added to his heart condition. They might have had more support in place for Aaron is their mother and grandfather hadn’t been so reluctant to get him tested in the first place and continue to try and appear “normal”. 

As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Brianna is desperately trying to cope with the situation the best she can which isn’t well at all and she really needs some support from a grown up right now but there is no one there. Brianna’s is listening to the dad heart and trying to figure out what it wants her to do and it seems like it is telling her to take care of her family and bring them back to themselves especially her mother but she isn’t sure how to do that. Brianna is also plagued by memories of her father especially in the time they had together before Aaron when in her mind everything was better. I am not sure where the story is going to go in the second half but this seems like a coming to terms with grief novel which is something I appreciate as long as its got either a happy ending or an understandable ending but it is trying out to be a quick read which is expected of middle grade. 

As we cross into the second half of the novel, Brianna isn’t coming to terms with her dad’s death but she is starting to come to terms with what life is going to be like without him being around constantly and the new role she needs to take within the family. Her relationship with Aaron is getting better especially when he is held back a year at school and he is upset thinking there is something wrong with him and she swears that she loves him no matter what even after the way she felt about him before. She is also becoming more sympathetic towards her mother especially after her grandfather shares his experience with grief after the death of her grandmother. Brianna is also finding herself as her former friend and Peter become more distant from her but she finds people like Daisy and Neill who like her for who she is and encourages her to do things that are going to make her happy not the people around her which is a really important message to be sending to young people. That you don’t have to please everyone around you as long as you yourself are happy. 

As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Brianna’s emotions are all over the place which is expecting of someone her age and what she has been through but she still isn’t getting the support she needs except from the dad heart which isn’t much at all. She is trying to be there for Aaron by going to his play with their grandfather and he does amazing but their mother spoils the entire night. She turns up late and looking as crazy as Brianna feels she is and leaves halfway through when Aaron pretends to faint and this causes a meltdown from the boy. Their grandfather rarely sees this side of Aaron and he is shocked but Brianna takes control of the situation and gets everything under control. Peter also feels guilty about ditching Brianna and comes back to her but when she attempts to hold his hand he pulls away which hurts Brianna. The only upside so far is her friendship with Daisy and Neill as they don’t expect anything from her other than what she is willing to give. Daisy also does the most amazing portrait of her father that moves Brianna to tears but everything Daisy has hidden inside the picture. 

As we cross into the final section of the novel, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the ending but I was excited to get there. In the end we do get some resolution for the family, it isn’t a happy or perfect ending at all but it does bring the family closer together as Brianna finally confesses her feelings on the death of her father and how her mother’s reaction has affecting her and Aaron. This is a new beginning for them where they aren’t going to forget about the person they have lost but they need to look forward to the future so they don’t get stuck where they are now in a cycle of grief and despair. Overall, The Girl with more than One Heart was an interesting and realistic look into grief and the healing process that comes after for both adults and children. Despite being middle grade which isn’t something I normally read I did really enjoy the book and I hope to read more like this in the future.