I liked the author's perspective and representation of mental illness, especially in someone who is coming to realize what it is for themselves. To see that journey of self-discovery was beautiful and engaging. That being said, parts of the book were rather slow and made the book harder to get into. Not until the very end did I feel like I couldn't put it down. ( )

3.5 ( )

It's been a while since I stayed up late to finish a book.

It's been a while since a middle grade book made me feel so many things so deeply.

It's been a while since a book made me want to shove it into the hands of everyone I meet and say, "This one. Read this one."

I'll maybe write a full review later. But as my first impression after just finishing it: wow. This is a good one. ( )

I liked this book though I had concerns about the story from a developmental attachment point of view. I was so disappointed in the lack of adult attachment, which is so vital to healthy child and adolescent development. Because of this lack, I couldn't enjoy the character development or the storyline. ( )

This book was pretty damn good. It was originally suggested from a list of books dealing with mental illness. (Depression, for this one.) I don’t know if this book does much to address that but it does an excellent job of storytelling otherwise. The writing is the real star of the show here.

It reminded me of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, which I liked very much, with a little Bridge to Terabithia thrown in. I like the idea of there being some kind of family secret and only the kids can uncover it because they lack the prejudices or social stigmas of adults. They’re smart enough to ignore the “don’t associate with those people” rule. I love those books where the kids are heroes and the adults are the screw-ups.

The main character has this world she escapes to because she has depression and anxiety. But when she goes to her grandparents, and interacts with her cousins for the first time, they all get into the world, and suddenly they have a reason to play together. But this doesn’t help the broken-ness, the blue days, the panic attacks. She’s got to deal with them while fending off Grandma’s desire to keep up appearances, developing a crush on the neighbor boy, and idolizing the cool older cousin.

It may not help with your depression or give you much insight into it–the mental illness isn’t really part of the plot, it’s more a tacked on part of the character–but that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy this. ( )