THE SCIENCE OF BREAKABLE THINGS by Tae Keller

 

The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller

Realistic Fiction, School Stories, Friendship, Depression, Mental Health, Scientific Method, Racially Mixed People

298 pages

Description

Publishers Weekly (January 8, 2018)

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.

My Comments

This is a good book to recommend to 6th-8th kids looking for realistic fiction. Although a major part of the book is about Natalie coping with her mother's depression, it's also about so much more; her relationship with her father, her emerging awareness of her Korean identity, friendship, trust, and the scientific method. A great book, a great author. Highly recommend!

THE YEAR WE FELL FROM SPACE by Amy Sarig King

Realistic Fiction, Bullying, Divorce, Family, Mental Health, Meteorites
262 pages

DescriptionAfter 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) "(Kirkus Reviews August 15, 2019)

My CommentsLove the book, but wish the author had not made Liberty a new sixth grader. The book explores complex feelings and family relationships. This is a wonderful book for grades 7-8. It is not a book that I would give to many fifth or sixth graders. I wish that authors would refrain from stipulating an age or if necessary at least make the age one or two years older than the intended grade level. It is difficult to get a 7th or 8th grader to read about a 6th grader. That said, I love it, especially the star maps.

READING LIST: ART-SCIENCE GRADES 3-6

SERIES

Science for Kids series : Galileo, Newton, Einstein (all have activities as well as info)

Series: Masterpieces, artists and their works

NONFICTION

The boy who harnessed the wind

By Kamkwamba, William  Dewey: 621.4

The author details how he ignored naysayers and was able to bring electricity and running water to his Malawian village when he built a makeshift windmill out of scrap metal and spare parts.

The dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins : an illuminating history of Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, artist and lecturer : true dinosaur story in three ages ....

By Kerley, Barbara  Dewey: 567.9

The true story of Victorian artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, who built life-sized models of dinosaurs in the hope of educating the world about what these awe-inspiring ancient animals were like.

Leonardo da Vinci : artist, inventor, and Renaissance man

By Koestler-Grack, Rachel A  Dewey: 709

Profiles the life and works of artist, sculptor, inventor, writer, and scientist, Leonardo da Vinci, and describes how much of his work became forerunners of many modern machines such as the automobile and the airplane.

Leonardo da Vinci by Barbara Witteman (biography)

Series: Masterpieces. Artists and their Work.

 Romare Bearden: Collage of Memories 
by Jan Greenberg
Recounts the life of the twentieth-century African-American collage artist who used his southern childhood. New York City, jazz, and Paris to influence his bold and meaningful art.

Starry messenger : a book depicting the life of a famous scientist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, physicist, Galileo Galilei

By Sis, Peter  Dewey: 520

Describes the life and work of Galileo who changed the way people saw the galaxy, by offering objective evidence that the earth was not the fixed center of the universe.

FICTION

Among the brave

By Haddix, Margaret Peterson  Dewey: -Fic-

In a society that allows families to have only two children, a group of third-borns tries to save themselves and others like them.

Beetle boy

By Leonard, M. G  Dewey: -Fic-

Darkus Cuttle has taken care of his father ever since his mother died, but his father vanished from a locked vault at the Natural History Museum, and now he lives with his eccentric uncle. One day he finds a large and unusually intelligent and self-aware beetle, and soon he and his two friends are caught up in a struggle to protect an intelligent super species of beetles

Benjamin Franklinstein lives!

By McElligott, Matthew  Dewey: -Fic-

While working on a science fair project, a Philadelphia school boy discovers both a secret laboratory in his basement and Benjamin Franklin, who comes to life after receiving a jolt of electricity.

Framed

By Cottrell Boyce, Frank  Dewey: -Fic-

Dylan and his sisters have some ideas about how to make Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel into a more profitable business, but it is not until some strange men arrive in their small town of Manod, Wales with valuable paintings, and their father disappears, that they consider turning to crime.

Me, Frida

By Novesky, Amy  Dewey: -Fic-

Artist Frida Kahlo finds her own voice and style when her famous husband, Diego Rivera, is commissioned to paint a mural in San Francisco, California, in the 1930s and she finds herself exploring the city on her own.

Space case

By Gibbs, Stuart  Dewey: -Fic-

"Dashiell Gibson, who lives on Moon Base Alpha, has to solve a murder of one of the moon's most prominent doctors"--Provided by publisher.

The 7 professors of the Far North

By Fardell, John  Dewey: -Fic-

Eleven-year-old Sam finds himself involved in a dangerous adventure when he and his new friends, brother and sister Ben and Zara, set off for the Arctic to try and rescue the siblings' great-uncle and five other professors from the mad scientist holding them prisoner.

Saffy's angel

By McKay, Hilary  Dewey: -Fic-

After learning that she was adopted, thirteen-year-old Saffron's relationship with her eccentric, artistic family changes, until they help her go back to Italy where she was born to find a special memento of her past.