Summary
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.
Author Notes
TAE KELLER was born and raised in Honolulu, where she grew up on purple rice, Spam musubi, and her halmoni's tiger stories. She is theNewbery Medal-winning authorof When You Trap a Tiger and The Science of Breakable Things .She lives in Seattle.Visit her at TaeKeller.com, follow her monthly love letters at bit.ly/lovetae, and find her on Twitter and Instagram.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-7-When Natalie's new seventh grade science teacher hands out journals so each student can spend the school year pondering their own "big question," Natalie is hesitant. She used to love science, and alongside her botanist mother, she performed all sorts of experiments. But her mother's depression has kept her in bed for weeks, and the only question Natalie cares about now is: How she can get her mom back? At her science teacher's encouragement, she and her friends Twig and Dari enter an egg-drop competition, and Natalie secretly hopes to use the prize money to cheer her mother up with her favorite plant, a cobalt blue orchid. Narrator Jennifer Kim deftly portrays Natalie's range of emotions, including worry, hope, excitement, frustration, and determination as she navigates not only challenging relationships with friends, but also her secret struggle with her Mom's depression. VERDICT This unforgettable debut has strong STEM tie-ins, and the realistic yet sensitive portrayal of mental illness hits just the right notes for middle grade listeners.-Anne Bosievich, Friendship Elementary School, Glen Rock, PA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Natalie Napoli's seventh-grade science class is working on a yearlong experiment, recording their findings in "Wonderings journals." The text of Natalie's journal comprises Keller's moving debut novel. Natalie used to like science and spent much of her childhood in her botanist mother's laboratory. But her mother, suffering from severe depression, has barely left her bedroom in months. Natalie and her best friend Twig collaborate with new student Dari to win an egg drop contest for their experiment, and Natalie imagines using the prize money to fly with her mother to New Mexico, home to a striking cobalt blue orchid, born out of a toxic chemical spill, that her mother had been studying. Natalie's Korean heritage is sensitively explored, as is the central issue of depression and its impact; Keller draws thoughtful parallels between Natalie's mother's struggles and the fragility of orchids and eggs. Natalie's fraught relationship with her mother, and her friendships with Twig and Dari, are the heart of the book, but science is its soul. Ages 8-12. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Excerpts
Mr. Neely just wrote our first lab book assignment on the board in his scrunched- up, scratchy handwriting, and he's getting all excited about this scientific process stuff. I'm not sure why he feels the need to use hashtags and spell perfectly innocent words with a z, but he's one of those teachers you don't bother questioning. He has big plans for this lab notebook. Apparently, he thinks it's important to teach students "dedication to long- term projects," and this assignment is his grand solution. Basically, we're supposed to observe something that interests us and spend all year applying the scientific process to our capital- Q Question. As soon as we sat down, he passed out these dorky old composition notebooks and said, "This will be your Wonderings journal! You will record lab notes and assignments, and document the greatest scientific journey of all time-- your scientific journey!" We all stared, trying to figure out if he was for real or not. He was. "You'll spend this year developing your own scientific process, and it all starts with one question--that thing that sparks you to life." Mr. Neely made a weird explosion gesture with his hands, and someone in the back of the room giggled, which only seemed to encourage him. "By the end of the year, I'll be the one learning. From you !" Mr. Neely is a new teacher, so he's still all optimistic and stuff, but personally I think this assignment's a lost cause. Last year, our English teacher, Mrs. Jackson, thought it'd be really great for us to keep journals. The only requirement: fifty pages by the end of the year, written from the heart. If you haven't guessed already, that just resulted in everyone writing all fifty pages the day before the journals were due. I mostly filled mine with song lyrics, copied in my biggest, sloppiest handwriting. And technically, this is supposed to be homework, but I don't see why I shouldn't get a head start. Without further ado, dearest lab notebook, I present Natalie Napoli's Scientific Observations:1 * Mr. Neely waves his arms in big circles when he talks, which makes him look like an overeager hula dancer. His white button-down--bright against his dark brown skin--wrinkles as he moves. * He tells us he wants us to "embrace the joys of science." * Mikayla Menzer raises her hand. * Mikayla Menzer answers without being called on. She says, "Science is literally the joy of my life. I am literally embracing it right now." * Mikayla Menzer is not literally embracing anything. She's just sitting at her desk, catty-corner to mine, with her hands clasped in front of her, and her thick dark braid twisting over her shoulder. * Mikayla Menzer smells like sunscreen, which kind of makes the entire classroom smell like sunscreen, and the air in here is damp and hot. I wish Fountain Middle had air-conditioning. * I wish we had enough money for me to go to Valley Hope Middle, which does have AC, but now that Mom's "sick," Dad says we need to "tighten our belt a notch." * And anyway, Twig's here, even though her family can definitely afford Valley Hope, so I guess this place isn't so bad.2 * Mr. Neely is saying my name, but I haven't been listening, so I just nod at him and give him my best I'm embracing science smile. * Mr. Neely says, "I'm glad you're having so much fun with the assignment, but making observations is supposed to be homework, Natalie. Please pay attention in class." * I am paying attention. * And Mikayla Menzer still smells like sunscreen. 1 Only the most brilliant observations you'll ever read. Imagine you're hearing a drumroll right now. Go on, imagine it. 2 Twig: best friend in the entire galaxy. (Her words.) Excerpted from The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
