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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
parents were horrible and the family dynamic was unfortunately relatable. really empathized with bird trying to be the glue of the family and stay out of trouble because there’s enough going on, but it beyond frustrated me that she felt like she had to behave that way in the first place. i also felt as though the ending was not as fleshed out as it should have been. like 3/4 of it was everyone in their own orbit and only in the last 1/4 were we able to see some sort of sibling reconciliation. overall, a pretty gutting book for a middle school read but not something i’d like to read again.
Great story! Junior High/Middle schoolers Bird, Fitch, and Cash are all just trying to survive school and home. Fitch is struggling socially, Cash is struggling academically, and Bird is trying to hold onto her dream of becoming the first female NASA Shuttle Commander. And sometimes life doesn’t go according to plan…
I should have LOVED this book. I vividly remember the day the Challenger exploded. I was sitting in 9th grade English when I heard the announcement over the loudspeaker. I love 1980's nostalgia. If I remember any year of my life REALLY well, it is 1986. AND I had two brothers with whom I was utterly disconnected. I had parents who bickered relentlessly and barely noticed us because they were so deep in their own dysfunction.
I didn't love this book. And not because it was too reminiscent of my own childhood. I kept seeking emotional resonance and not finding it. I could connect a bit more to Bird's brothers than Bird, but their characters were not fleshed out enough (or didn't get enough "air time") for me to really get emotionally invested. I kept picking it up and putting it down again, starting other books and finishing them, and punishing myself by telling myself I had to read this. It won awards! It's 80's historical fiction! How many books have you read where the parents really viciously bicker? You should love this one!
Nope. Didn't love it. Didn't even finish it, and there are only a handful of books I've ever started but not finished, ever.
Months later I put the audiobook on hold at the library and tried again. I made it all the way through, mostly through sheer stubbornness. The narration by Ramon de Ocampo was engaging enough, but, still, it fell flat. It didn't feel like the 80's. It didn't feel like 1986...sure, there were scenes in an arcade and a kid stayed home from school alone but...there wasn't much of a historical setting. The only storyline I really cared about was Fitch's, and that was left hanging.
All in all...it wasn't for me. I really wanted it to be! DNF the paper book, but finished the audio.
I didn't love this book. And not because it was too reminiscent of my own childhood. I kept seeking emotional resonance and not finding it. I could connect a bit more to Bird's brothers than Bird, but their characters were not fleshed out enough (or didn't get enough "air time") for me to really get emotionally invested. I kept picking it up and putting it down again, starting other books and finishing them, and punishing myself by telling myself I had to read this. It won awards! It's 80's historical fiction! How many books have you read where the parents really viciously bicker? You should love this one!
Nope. Didn't love it. Didn't even finish it, and there are only a handful of books I've ever started but not finished, ever.
Months later I put the audiobook on hold at the library and tried again. I made it all the way through, mostly through sheer stubbornness. The narration by Ramon de Ocampo was engaging enough, but, still, it fell flat. It didn't feel like the 80's. It didn't feel like 1986...sure, there were scenes in an arcade and a kid stayed home from school alone but...there wasn't much of a historical setting. The only storyline I really cared about was Fitch's, and that was left hanging.
All in all...it wasn't for me. I really wanted it to be! DNF the paper book, but finished the audio.
When I was in junior high I was Bird. Her character is so much like me right down to her obsession with space and NASA. So I can't help but notice something like referring to launch being at Houston. I can't help it, little nerd me is still inside somewhere.
Other than Bird there wasn't a main character I liked in this. The stereotypical 80s "me generation" parents and bratty teen boys were written exceptionally well so as to be annoying and irritating. Especially the parents. OMG.
Other than Bird there wasn't a main character I liked in this. The stereotypical 80s "me generation" parents and bratty teen boys were written exceptionally well so as to be annoying and irritating. Especially the parents. OMG.
I did not watch the Challenger launch live. But I was in 7th grade just like Bird when it happened. I was in my social studies class when they made the announcement over the PA system. Bird is a strong character young readers will likely see themselves in. Young readers may also see themselves in her brother’s Cash and Fitch. All three are trying to make sense of the world and want to be more than how others see them. This is a great work of historic fiction. I loved it.
Another good book by Erin Entrada Kelly. The parents in this book were so awful. But I liked how it ended on a positive note for each of the siblings.
This was quite the 80s childhood flashback! But it was also a beautiful portrait of a family that was struggling in a very relatable way. I loved seeing inside each of these kids at a pivotal moment in their youth against a backdrop of an experience I have such a visceral memory of. High recommended.
4.5
Very touching story about three sibblings trying to find their place in this big universe, while Challenger is readying to be launched.
Very touching story about three sibblings trying to find their place in this big universe, while Challenger is readying to be launched.
3 siblings of a complicated and volatile family are all just trying to get by in middle school.They each run in their own orbits, with sister Bird sometimes trying to keep them together, and pursue her own academic dreams. Their lives and struggles are set against the backdrop of late 1985, and a science teacher who is eagerly awaiting the Challenger launch of 1986 that will send a teacher into space. My memories of that time are still very ingrained in me, and this book hit a lot of nerves. It's not a nostalgic 80s reverie; it's story of young people who are in transition and are struggling to connect.