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emily_mh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is such an incredibly important story. Talking about Windrush is so essential, so the fact that young kids can learn about it through this book if their school or caregivers aren’t going to teach it is SO significant.
As well as being important, this was just such a great read. The sneaking-about and mystery-solving aspects combined with getting badges was really captivating and set a great mood. In terms of formatting, I LOVED that there was a map of the neighbourhood included and that the chapter titles were the names of the badges the Copseys were earning in that chapter, accompanied with the design of the badge. Also, the acknowledgements were structured like Jackson was giving out badges which I thought was such a nice detail.
I think the one thing that I struggled with is that I thought the selfishness character development in Josie was a little underbaked. Regarding the selfishness with her brother, I thought that Josie was reacting perfectly normally and felt bad that her parents weren’t trying to comfort and understand her before helping her move past her jealously. I definitely got the selfishness in relation to the Copseys (the whole “helping others for the right reasons” theme), but I wish this had been developed further. However, this barely impacted on my reading experience as you can tell from my rating! I would 100% recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Deportation
Moderate: Pregnancy and Classism
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Ableism, Violence, Death, Alcohol, Murder, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexism, Vomit, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Excrement, and Infidelity
Major: homelessness Moderate: sick parent Minor: loss of a loved one
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