Book Review: Savvy

I loved this book! It will certainly be on my list of best books read this year. If I hadn't already sent an e-mail offering to read to a classroom in our nearby elementary school (and not heard one word in reply, mind you), I would be running over there right now to beg for a chance to be a scheduled read-aloud reader in one of the fourth or fifth grade classes. In fact, I'm frustrated that I will have to wait six or seven years for my youngest sons to be old enough to get the most out of this book.

Ingrid Law has a wonderful gift for developing lively, interesting characters. Plus, her use of language is outstanding. I found myself reading sentences aloud to my family because the words were like cotton candy and a satisfying dinner all wrapped in one.

Here are a few of my favorite examples:

"Miss Rosemary was well-known to us all. She smelled of Lysol and butterscotch and had her own matching set of rights and wrongs - like suitcases she made other people carry - and she took it upon herself to make everything and everyone as shipshape and apple-pie as she felt the Lord had intended them to be."

"We all stood and looked sadly at our own lovely house as though we'd just found out that a grizzly bear had moved in and pulled all the stuffing from the furniture and torn all the pictures from the walls and eaten all the special-occasion mini-marshmallows from the high top shelf above the refrigerator while we were gone."

"There in Emerald, far from home, with Fish storming his storm and The Great and Powerful Ozzie knocked down to size inside the diner, I was starting to feel low on heart, and my brains and bravery weren't so sure either. Fish and I weren't in Kansaska-Nebransas anymore and we didn't have any yellow bricks to guide us, just a big pink bus and the yellow stripe-stripe-stripes on the highway."

"Lester might not have looked the part of a hero, but I suppose you never can tell right off who might have a piece of Prince Charming deep down inside."

You can probably surmise from these quotes, that she alludes to The Wizard of Oz during the course of the story. It is a fitting reference for this mighty, redemptive tale which takes places in the heartland of America.

The Beaumont family is special. When a Beaumont child reaches their thirteenth birthday, they can assume that, before the end of the day, they will be endued with their own special savvy - an outstanding power or ability that is just a touch beyond ordinary. As Mibs approaches her 13th birthday, she wonders whether her savvy will be as dynamic as those bestowed on the men folk in her clan (who alter geography and weather) or will be more subtle like her mother's gentle perfection.

Unfortunately, just days before her life is set to change, her life changes unexpectedly and dramatically when her father is injured in an accident. As Mibs sets about, hoping to heal her father with her new found savvy, she discovers quite a bit about herself, about growing up, about love and about friendship. When she stows away on a pink bus, she has no idea what this journey will bring.

I loved this on so many levels. I love how it teaches children to search for their own unique gifts and abilities. I love the lessons of understanding and compassion. All of the characters have strengths and weaknesses and all are expertly drawn. It would be so much fun to come up with feedback questions for students to write about after hearing this story. Plus, it would be loads of fun to discuss this book with children. Sheesh, do I wish I were back working at Littlejohn Elementary right now!!!

For now, I'll have to settle for recommending this book highly. I will also mention that I thoroughly enjoyed an author interview I found here. You kind of know it is going to be an enjoyable book, when the author releases film rights before the book is even published. I loved her story about hearing this news on her cell phone as she sat alone in a darkened theater awaiting the beginning of a movie and then couldn't stay to watch the movie because she was too excited. I'm looking forward to the promised sequel and many others from this talented author and word-wielder!