About the book: Twelve-year-old Maddie has a quirky sense of humor and loves making her classmates laugh by slapping on fake mustaches every chance she gets. Being funny gets her noticed by class queen Cassie, and things are looking up when Maddie is cast as Juliet in the school play. Maybe Juliet could wear a mustache?
When Maddie starts tripping when she walks and her hand starts curling up at her side, her mom takes her to the doctor, who confirms Maddie has a brain tumor. In an instant, her world is turned upside down.
Maddie doesn't want anyone else to know. Especially Cassie, whose jealousy has turned to bullying. What about Maddie's chance to play Juliet opposite the cutest boy in the sixth grade? What if the doctors can't get the ugly tumor monster out of her brain?
As Maddie's surgery approaches, she wonders if her illness is giving her super powers because her imagination is bigger than ever, her courage is stronger than ever, and her compassion is about to be felt by more people than she ever imagined.
My review: I really enjoyed reading this book. I enjoyed the way I found traces of myself as a child in the main character. Like me, she just wanted to be liked by the "popular" kids, also like me, the popular girl just wanted to use her to find out information. But I really loved the way she was able to rise above everything. She used her great imagination (also like me as a child!) to make everything seem better and more fun. She used humor to make things happier all around for herself and for others. I loved the way she went out of her way to include everyone.
This book is based on a true story. I remember when Chad Morris' book came out the he wasn't able to promote because he was with his daughter who had cancer. I love that this book kind of tells you the story of that through Maddie's eyes and how you are able to see a little bit of what happened to his family as they dealt with the rough time they had.
I loved this book! I'm excited to pass it on to my own daughter, nearly 12 herself, and see if she enjoys it as much as I did!
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Purchase links: Amazon - Deseret Book
About the author: Chad Morris would love to be able to control animal avatars, see history in 3D, and show everyone how he imagines stories. Since the inventions that would make that possible currently exist only in his imagination, he settles for reading, writing, playing basketball, rappelling down an occasional slot canyon, dating his wife, and hanging out with his five awesome kids. Chad speaks Portuguese, can play the Phineas and Ferb theme song on the guitar, and does decent impressions of a velociraptor and Voldemort—but not at the same time. He isn't very good at fixing his car, shopping for anything, cooking, or growing hair.Labels: Chad Morris, middle grade book, Shadow Mountain Publishing, Shelly Brown
