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A review by sde
Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby
4.0
I am reviewing an Advanced Readers Copy of the book.
This book is hard to rate. It is billed as a middle grade book, but it reads more like a YA book. The protaganist is in 6th grade, but she has to deal with her bipolar father, who is raising her alone. There is little that would be traumatizing or inappropriate for younger kids in this book. It's just that younger kids might not understand what is going on unless they had experienced it themselves. It is not really explained until the end, which makes sense given that is the way the main character, Fig, is grappling with it all in her mind.
Although Fig's life is difficult, and she is as much of a caretaker of her father as he is with her, this isn't a dark book. The love between Fig and her father is obvious and endearing. They also befriend their new neighbor, Mark, and it is nice to see an adult character in a kid's book who is just basically a good guy.
You learn early on that Fig's mother left the day after Fig was born, and I wish there was more explanation of that. It seems that Fig has never seen her since, but that doesn't seem to enter her thoughts much. It seems like it would be a major part of a kid's coming of age, but it isn't really addressed.
I have no idea if the symptoms and behavior of Fig's father are an accurate portrayal of bipolar disorder, so others with more knowledge may quibble with some of this. But if it is accurate, it seems a decent portrayal of how a 12 year old might perceive it.
This book is hard to rate. It is billed as a middle grade book, but it reads more like a YA book. The protaganist is in 6th grade, but she has to deal with her bipolar father, who is raising her alone. There is little that would be traumatizing or inappropriate for younger kids in this book. It's just that younger kids might not understand what is going on unless they had experienced it themselves. It is not really explained until the end, which makes sense given that is the way the main character, Fig, is grappling with it all in her mind.
Although Fig's life is difficult, and she is as much of a caretaker of her father as he is with her, this isn't a dark book. The love between Fig and her father is obvious and endearing. They also befriend their new neighbor, Mark, and it is nice to see an adult character in a kid's book who is just basically a good guy.
You learn early on that Fig's mother left the day after Fig was born, and I wish there was more explanation of that. It seems that Fig has never seen her since, but that doesn't seem to enter her thoughts much. It seems like it would be a major part of a kid's coming of age, but it isn't really addressed.
I have no idea if the symptoms and behavior of Fig's father are an accurate portrayal of bipolar disorder, so others with more knowledge may quibble with some of this. But if it is accurate, it seems a decent portrayal of how a 12 year old might perceive it.