Two middle grade books
Dec. 16th, 2021 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulySo, I think I might hate the first one, Love, Ish. This isn't entirely the book's fault - the blurb on the library app cut off arbitrarily in the middle of a sentence, so maybe I should've known this going in, but I thought it was a book about a girl dealing with her parents' dysfunctional parenting choices and possibly getting therapy, but instead it's a book about her dying of cancer. She dies at the end, and nobody gets therapy even though they probably all need it more than ever. It does not go unnoticed by me that she didn't tell her parents about her headaches because her job in the family is to be "the smart one", and it's her middle sister whose job is "the one with the problems", and if she'd told her parents about the headaches she may have been treated sooner. But probably not, because wow, these people make bad choices.
I also read Born Behind Bars. I've read stuff from this author before, mostly her YA. This is definitely geared at a younger group and honestly, it resolves very neatly. Almost too neatly and quickly - but do I really want these kids to suffer for the sake of gritty realism? Enough kids suffer in real life! It's better that there are happy endings all around.
Now I'm in the middle of Josephine Against the Sea, and I must be getting old. Josephine is sneaking around trying to gather evidence that her father's girlfriend is a mystical spirit who may or may not be out to harm him but, either way, surely is very dangerous, and I keep thinking "Listen, have you tried just talking to her? I am certain that's a better plan than whatever you're thinking of."
I also read Born Behind Bars. I've read stuff from this author before, mostly her YA. This is definitely geared at a younger group and honestly, it resolves very neatly. Almost too neatly and quickly - but do I really want these kids to suffer for the sake of gritty realism? Enough kids suffer in real life! It's better that there are happy endings all around.
Now I'm in the middle of Josephine Against the Sea, and I must be getting old. Josephine is sneaking around trying to gather evidence that her father's girlfriend is a mystical spirit who may or may not be out to harm him but, either way, surely is very dangerous, and I keep thinking "Listen, have you tried just talking to her? I am certain that's a better plan than whatever you're thinking of."
