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Summary
Summary
Natalie's uplifting story of using the scientific process to "save" her mother from depression is what Booklist calls "a winning story full of heart and action."
Eggs are breakable. Hope is not.
When Natalie's science teacher suggests that she enter an egg drop competition, Natalie thinks that this might be the perfect solution to all of her problems. There's prize money, and if she and her friends wins, then she can fly her botanist mother to see the miraculous Cobalt Blue Orchids--flowers that survive against impossible odds. Natalie's mother has been suffering from depression, and Natalie is sure that the flowers' magic will inspire her mom to love life again. Which means it's time for Natalie's friends to step up and show her that talking about a problem is like taking a plant out of a dark cupboard and giving it light. With their help, Natalie begins an uplifting journey to discover the science of hope, love, and miracles.
A vibrant, loving debut about the coming-of-age moment when kids realize that parents are people, too. Think THE FOURTEENTH GOLDFISH meets THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR * KIRKUS REVIEWS * THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY *
"Natalie's Korean heritage is sensitively explored, as is the central issue of depression."
-- Publishers Weekly
"A compassionate glimpse of mental illness accessible to a broad audience."
-- Kirkus Reviews , STARRED REVIEW
"Holy moly This book made me feel."
--Colby Sharp, editor of The Creativity Project , teacher, and cofounder of Nerdy Book Club
Author Notes
TAE KELLER grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, where she wrote stories, ate spam musubis, and participated in her school's egg drop competition. (She did not win.) After graduating from Bryn Mawr College, she moved to New York City to work in publishing, and now has a very stubborn Yorkie and a multitude of books as roommates. Visit her at TaeKeller.com, follow her on Twitter at @TaeKeller, and be sure to join her newsletter bit.ly/taekellernews.
Reviews (4)
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.
Kirkus Review
A middle school story in which parental depression manifests itself in absence.Natalie's vivacious botanist mother (who's white) has retreated from life, leaving her therapist husband (who's biracial) and daughter to fill the gaping hole she has left. With the help of an egg-drop contest and a scientific-method project, Natalie explores breakable things and the nurturing of hope. Narrating in first-person, the mixed-race seventh-grader (1/4 Korean and 3/4 white) is drawn to her mother's book, titled How to Grow A Miracle. It reminds her of when her mother was excited by science and questions and life. With a STEM-inspired chapter framework and illustrated with Neonakis' scientific drawings, Keller's debut novel uses the scientific method to unpack the complex emotions depression can cause. Momentum builds over nine months as Natalie observes, questions, researches, experiments, and analyzes clues to her mother's state of mind. Providing support and some comic relief are her two sidekicks, Dari (a smart Indian immigrant boy) and Twig (Natalie's wealthy, white best friend). The diversity of the characters provides identity and interest, not issue or plotline. Tension peaks at the egg-drop contest, as the three friends plan to use the prize winnings to bring Natalie's mother back to life with a gift of a rare cobalt blue orchid. Paralleling their scientific progress, Natalie reluctantly experiences her first visits to talk therapy, slowly opening like a tight bloom.A compassionate glimpse of mental illness accessible to a broad audience. (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* For fans of The Thing about Jellyfish (2015) comes a clever debut combining science with a tough topic. Natalie's hashtag-loving seventh-grade science teacher, Mr. Neely, encourages his students to tackle long-term projects using the scientific method, which is how Natalie and her BFF Twig enter the classic egg-drop contest. But Natalie is also undertaking a more personal science experiment, trying to bring her botanist mother out of depression. She's convinced the $500 prize for Operation Egg will provide the funds to fly Mom to New Mexico to see the Cobalt Blue Orchid, a flower that thrives in the harshest conditions, and everything will go back to normal again. Along with a plot that includes several experiments and diagrams, Keller crafts a winning story full of heart and action that balances the weighty subject of a child dealing with a parent's depression. Natalie is a well-rounded, complex character whose two parents, in a rarity for middle-grade fiction, have story arcs all their own. Part Korean on her father's side, Natalie yearns for a deeper connection to her Korean heritage. Aside from the obvious connection to STEM, Keller's layered, accessible story has offers beautifully crafted metaphors, a theme of mending old friendships and creating new ones, and an empowering teacher to a variety of readers. A moving story about fragility and rebirth.--Barnes, Jennifer Copyright 2018 Booklist
Excerpts
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.
