A review by katymul
A Touch of Ruckus by Ash Van Otterloo

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is a pitch perfect middle grade novel. Tennie's desperation to smooth over every struggle in her family feels achingly real, and her budding friendship with Fox is rendered in a more complex and thoughtful way than most new friendship-as-rescue arcs. We get just enough to know that Fox has their own life struggles that pre-exist Tennie and deserve just as much consideration as Tennie's more ever-present concerns as the narrator. The magical elements are spooky but mostly emotional and moving, and the balance of the story is remarkable.

I was initially a bit concerned about the ending, at least as I read through the book and saw how quickly the number of pages left in the book was shrinking. "How can a full climax and resolution happen in the remaining pages?" I remember thinking. But what could have felt like an anticlimax instead hammers home the message that Tennie's outsized fear of "bothering" her family with her needs is an unnecessary fear. Not only does the world not end, but when everyone pulls together, the resolution can happen faster than Tennie (or I as the reader) imagined.

Beautiful, meticulously crafted, wonderful.