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A review by bookishlifeofbrie
The Nest by Kenneth Oppel
3.0
What a creepy, bizarre little book. I wanted to love it more than I did. And I don’t think it’s a “bad” book per se, more just “right book, wrong audience”. I do generally love middle grade, but something about this story didn’t connect with me.
I did like that this book touches on mental illness - our main character, Steve, who is maybe 12 ish? It never says that I can remember, struggles with anxiety, and panic attacks and OCD and sees a therapist. Add to that, his new baby brother is born with some sort of medical condition that causes his parents to spend an awful lot of time at the hospital with him. Steve is full of worry and starts to have dreams (nightmares!) in which a wasp queen creature comes to visit him promising they (the wasps) can help the baby.
Mostly I just felt badly for Steve, who so clearly needed more support from his parents, more honest conversations about what was happening with his baby brother. So ya, it was just weird. Definitely creepy and I think my 8 year old son would love it so I’ll hang on to it for him to read.
I did like that this book touches on mental illness - our main character, Steve, who is maybe 12 ish? It never says that I can remember, struggles with anxiety, and panic attacks and OCD and sees a therapist. Add to that, his new baby brother is born with some sort of medical condition that causes his parents to spend an awful lot of time at the hospital with him. Steve is full of worry and starts to have dreams (nightmares!) in which a wasp queen creature comes to visit him promising they (the wasps) can help the baby.
Mostly I just felt badly for Steve, who so clearly needed more support from his parents, more honest conversations about what was happening with his baby brother. So ya, it was just weird. Definitely creepy and I think my 8 year old son would love it so I’ll hang on to it for him to read.