Science of Breakable Things

by Tae Keller

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY • KIRKUS REVIEWS
 
The spectacular debut novel from the Newbery Award winning author of When You Trap a Tiger. This is an uplifting story about friendship, family, and the complicated science of the heart.

When Natalie’s science teacher suggests that she enter an egg drop competition, she thinks it could be the perfect solution to all of her problems. With the prize money, she can fly her botanist mother to see the miraculous Cobalt Blue Orchids--flowers with the resilience to survive against impossible odds. Her mother has been suffering from depression, and Natalie is positive that the flowers’ magic will inspire her mom to fall in love with life again.
 
But she can’t do it alone. Her friends step up to show her that talking about problems is like taking a plant out of a dark cupboard and exposing it to the sun. With their help, Natalie begins an unforgettable journey to discover the science of hope, love, and miracles.

• ISBN10: 1524715662
• ISBN13: 9781524715663
• Publish Date: 6 March 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Random House Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781524715663

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

I saw this book, and I was curious. The author was employing one of my favorite things, science, to tell the story of a young woman dealing with her mother's mental health issues, and it was done beautifully.

•Pro: Natalie was a charming and engaging narrator. Her voice was clear and real, and I cared very much about what she had to say.

•Pro: Nat's squad was top notch. Twig was already her steadfast friend, who grew over the course of the book, and she demonstrated how she was a true friend and supporter of Natalie's. I also thought Davi was a fabulous addition to their twosome, and together, this "team" had great strength.

•Pro: You have to know, that the science geek in me was all over so many things in this book. There were awesome illustrations, fun science investigations, and I loved when Natalie's reflections were told via the science report format. The way the formats were employed was very thoughtful and effective as well.

•Con: I liked dad, but I would have liked to know what his hang up was with his Korean heritage, and I would have liked to have seen Natalie explore that a little more with him. It was treated in passing in the book, which made it stand out to me.

•Pro: Yeah for therapy! Natalie's dad is a therapist, and he takes her to a therapist. Natalie may joke about therapist "tricks", but in the end, she admitted it made her feel better. At first, I thought maybe the family was ashamed of mom's mental health issues, but I think them keeping it under wraps had more to do with Natalie's youth, than shame.

•Pro: Keller did such a good job making me understand how Natalie felt about her mother's health issues. I ached for Natalie. When she would talk about her mother in the past tense, and how she missed her, it really tugged at my heart.

•Pro: So much growth! Natalie grew tremendously over the course of this book, and started seeing things that were always there in a new way. Keller expertly took us through Natalie's struggle to understand what had happened to her mother. It was real, it was honest, and her emotions were believable.

•Pro: There were all these fantastic things accomplished in the writing. The metaphors and parallels Keller presented were quite beautiful.

•Pro: This book deals with something painful and sad, but it moves in the direction of hope, which worked for me.

In her book, she'd written: Science is living. Science is asking questions and finding answers and never, ever stopping. I wanted to scream her own words at her, and I wanted to say, Why did you stop?

Overall: An honest look at how mental health issues can affect others within a family, which was told thoughtfully and beautifully.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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