Sarah Marie Jette

Things I love about this book: Latinx family, the subject of severe disability and its impact on family life, and a smart young woman with a sincere attachment to her brother. Also, genuinely interesting facts on wind, scientific method, engineering/tinkering and funny Rube Goldberg-esque machinery.

I also really like the dreamscape relationship between the Isabelle and Julian, and the real life agony of the family as they try to decide whether a new medicine that effectively treats Julian's seizures is worth the trade-off of him being mostly asleep for the rest of his life. Compassionate, sensitively portrayed and above all celebratory of what Julian can do rather than focusing on what he can't. I feel like this is a solid choice for kids who like Out of My Mind or Counting by Sevens, but it doesn't quite have the emotional punch of those books for me, perhaps, because it's not from a first person point of view. However, this is based on the author's experiences, so hooray for authentic voices on the subject of disability taking the stage. And as this is a debut novel (!) I look forward to what Sarah Marie Jette writes in the future.

Advanced reader's copy provided by Edelwiess.… (meer)