A review by sonni89
Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby

5.0

This is a truly, truly stunning middle-grade novel about Fig, an 11-year old math nerd who takes an art class in school in the hopes that it will make her understand her musician father who has bipolar disorder. The book is also super queer, which made my heart happy. And despite it dealing with many different things, it didn't for a second feel like an 'issue book'. It was just Fig's life, and her story was told so beautifully.

I genuinely bawled my eyes out while reading this, I just had a lot of feelings, etc. I also couldn't put it down and finished it in one sitting. I just really liked Fig so much and felt for her. She was truly a believable 11-year old and her narration was SO GREAT, especially getting across the things she clearly understood and then, in contrast, the things for which she didn't really have the concepts to explain them just yet.

I really liked all the main people in the book. Especially Mark. What a joy he was!

Spoiler

I thought I was reading too much into it when I was convinced something was going to happen between Fig's dad and Mark, but then IT DID and it was so great and so well-done, and the conflict that stemmed from her dad keeping it from her when she had come out to him was incredible. But Mark was GREAT and Fig slowly warming up to and trusting him was so, so beautiful.

What a truly wonderful book that I wholeheartedly recommend to everyone.