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| Book | Searching... Gallaher Village Public Library | KIN | Juvenile | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Putnam Main Public Library | KIN | Juvenile | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
The deeply affecting next book from acclaimed author Amy Sarig King. Liberty Johansen is going to change the way we look at the night sky. Most people see the old constellations, the things they've been told to see. But Liberty sees new patterns, pictures, and possibilities. She's an exception. Some other exceptions:Her dad, who gave her the stars. Who moved out months ago and hasn't talked to her since.Her mom, who's happier since he left, even though everyone thinks she should be sad and lonely.And her sister, who won't go outside their house. Liberty feels like her whole world is falling from space. Can she map a new life for herself and her family before they spin too far out of reach?
Author Notes
Amy Sarig King is the author of the middle grade titles Me and Marvin Gardens , a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and The Year We Fell From Space , an ALSC Notable Children's Book. She has also published many critically acclaimed young adult novels under the name A. S. King, including Please Ignore Vera Dietz , which was named a Michael L. Printz Honor Book; Ask the Passengers , which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Michael L. Printz Award winner and LA Times Book Prize finalist Dig ; and SW/TCH. After many years farming abroad, she now lives back in southeastern Pennsylvania with her family. Visit her website at www.as-king.com and follow her on Twitter at @AS_King.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5--7--The night a meteor falls near the home of 12-year-old Liberty Johansen, her parents announce their separation. As life as she knows it crumbles, she is left to grapple with her own conflicting emotions, which may stem from something deeper, possibly clinical depression. This compelling upper middle grade title offers an honest window into struggles with childhood and adult depression. Her father has been suffering from it for years, and Liberty fears that she may also have it. Her impulses shift from the desire to protect and nurture her younger sister to throwing a toaster out a window in a fit of rage. She finds solace in speaking to the meteor that she collected on the night of its fall from space, and, finally, with a trusted therapist. Bullying, puberty, and the protagonist's father's infidelity are also addressed. This title will resonate with middle graders searching for deeper understanding of their own or their family's experiences with these or similar topics. VERDICT Recommended for most middle grade collections, especially where realistic drama is in demand. Fans of Ali Benjamin's The Thing About Jellyfish and Esther Ehrlich's Nest will devour this one.--Pilar Okeson, The Allen-Stevenson School, New York
Publisher's Weekly Review
King (Me and Marvin Gardens) capably tackles the complexities of divorce and depression in this multifaceted novel. When 12-year-old narrator Liberty's parents announce their separation, the budding astronomer--who creates star maps featuring new constellations--plunges into a difficult new reality. Familial change is further impacted by confusing social dynamics at school, where Liberty is outcast from a group of friends; the intense responsibility she feels toward her younger sister Jilly, who ceased going outside following their parents' separation; and her father's absence. Anxious Liberty proves keenly observant, piecing together her father's new relationship and often considering what she has in common with him and how his depression manifests ("It makes him do things like snap or yell or stare into space or drive away for a few hours or sit in a room with no lights on for a day"). The running internal dialogue she conducts with a meteorite that falls to the woods near her home offers insight into her struggles and fears but can break the narrative pace; still, strong character interaction and Liberty's engaging, often humorous voice make the difficult slice-of-life topics relatable. Ages 8--12. (Oct.)
Horn Book Review
Twelve-year-old "amateur creative astronomer" Liberty Johansen, having memorized all the constellations, makes up her own and meticulously maps them. Her love of the cosmos comes from her father-who, at the start of the book, is separating from Liberty's mother, his severe depression (and, we find out later, infidelity) too much strain to bear. Liberty thinks of it as their family's "free fall from space," but then something does fall from space-a meteorite, which begins communicating with her. The meteorite offers comfort, as Liberty worries about her younger sister Jilly, who doesn't want to leave the house; her own mental health ("maybe we should have gone with Dad and not stayed with Mom. Because if something happens to my brain, I don't want her to kick me out too"); and the whole boy-girl thing, having been "excommunicated" from sixth grade for making fun of the pretend recess-time weddings ("It was the Tuesday after my dad moved out. Of course I thought weddings were stupid"). As she navigates her new family structure, Liberty loses her love for the stars and for herself before, cathartically, reconnecting with both. King (Me and Marvin Gardens, rev. 1/17, for middle graders; and her masterful YA oeuvre including Ask the Passengers, rev. 1/13, and, most recently Dig., rev. 3/19) is keenly attuned to her characters' humanity, from the core family members to Dad's new girlfriend to the neighbors going through a parallel family breakup. As always, the author's sensitivity to her characters' situational challenges is stunningly, compassionately insightful-and her narrative voice and just-this-side-of-realism setting uniquely her own. Elissa Gershowitz November/December 2019 p.89(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
After her parents separate, a Pennsylvania preteen struggles to accept the new normal.Liberty, 12, loves creating star maps and connecting stars in new patterns, forming new constellations (rendered by Goffi). After their dad moves out, she and her anxious little sister, Jilly, 9, don't see him for months. Their mother avoids answering questions. Lib abandons her star maps; the promise and possibilities they represented no longer feel real. Peer relationships suffer, too. Former friend Leah "excommunicates" her. Finn, offspring of another rocky marriage, ignores her. Being shunned isn't all bad; Lib enjoys eating lunch with a fellow outcast, Iranian American Malik (other characters default to white). Reconnecting with Dad, the girls are upset to learn he's dating. Desperate to restore her family, Lib bargains with the stars and meteorite she lugged home, utilizing magical thinking to bring about Dad's return. Counseling helps, too. Lib may not be clinically depressed like Dad, but what ails her is equally huge. "We co-own a divorce. Split four ways," she tells him. "It's ours." Lib's precise, present-tense narration sensitively reveals how divorce changes each family member, not just their relationships. It's a painful truth, but for Lib, sharing that hard-won insight is also empowering. Acclaimed as a YA novelist (Dig, 2019, etc.), King pens a middle-grade book that will especially resonate with readers confronting or affected by family turmoil.Quietly compelling. (author's note, resources) (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Twelve-year-old Liberty learns that her dad suffers from depression and begins feeling her own symptoms throughout the year of her parents' divorce. As a young astronomer, Liberty had always found comfort in drawing original star maps, and it was her dream to change the way people see the heavens, but she leaves her hobby behind as she sinks into a morass of anger and confusion. When she asks the stars to reunite her parents, they answer by sending a meteorite crashing into her backyard. The heavy rock becomes her sounding board as she grapples with her father's new lifestyle, her mom and little sister's own fallout, and the fact that reconciliation won't happen. This is a deeply emotional book, immersed in Liberty's first-person introspection, but it never drags, propelled by the suspense of interfamilial tension and King's (Me and Marvin Gardens, 2017) beautifully efficient prose. It's also a sad, utterly honest book, capturing the grief, longing, and loss of divorce. Liberty's depression seeps through the pages, and readers may themselves sink at times. The ending, however, remarkably offers hope and healing without minimizing the lingering realities of depression and separation. This is required reading for both children and parents of divorce, all of whom will find themselves reflected in this heartachingly cathartic tale of family, mental health, and coping.--Ronny Khuri Copyright 2010 Booklist
