A review by izumisano
The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller

4.0

I think is an important book for young readers. Too often in Children's literature, adults who aren't perfect (unless it is a lovable quirk) are vilified. Children need to know that while their parents aren't perfect or immediately there for them, that doesn't mean they don't love them. Adults are struggling too. In this case Natalie's mom is going through a period of severe depression. She never comes out of her room and Natalie and her father are kind of lost on how to get her old, sparkling mother back. It can be a hard change to understand why someone who used to be the definition of life, would suddenly withdraw and hide. Depression is a common illness and it doesn't always have to be trigger by something catastrophic. In this case, it seems something at work didn't go as planned.

Natalie spends the book wondering the reasons her mother would be depressed. Is it Natalie's fault? Did her mom get fired? Can she fix it? She decides that she has to do something to help her mom, because she has been there for her during her troubles.

I like the way this book is formatted. The author set it up on this lab notebook theme. Interspersed are these lab prompts from her teacher, as well as drawings from her experiments. It helps to break up the narrative in a fun way.