By Mame Farrell
Read: A long time ago?, June/July 2009
Rating: Good
A really adorable book. Do not write it off because of the cutesy word, adorable. It’s a very serious book. I think I read it onceuponatimeago because it seemed quite familiar, but I think I was too young for it at the time. It didn’t all make sense at the time. This book deals with some heavy stuff.
It’s very light, less than 150 pages. I’m not sure that helps or hinders it finding the readers who will best understand and/or benefit by it.
Hannah is twelve years old, and desperate not to be shunned by the other ‘popular’ kids at school. At first I wasn’t interested in her because I remember girls like her. They buy the ‘popular’ myth hook, line, and sinker. There was also some really cliche stuff coming out of another girl’s mouth about ‘how lucky’ they are, and how it’s ‘their responsibility’ to rough up uncool kids… like Malcolm Murgatroyd. Luckily, this does upset Hannah, so she’s not a coldhearted bitch.
You see, Malcolm’s family and Hannah’s family are practically–well, family. Their parents met in college and have been besties every since. They take group vacations and have been joking since they were born that Hannah and Malcolm will marry someday. Hannah is mortified for the suggestion, even more so because she thinks they’re all serious. Malcolm is a complete outcast at school–too smart, too eccentric, too lone-wolf. Hannah’s so-called peers make fun of him mercilessly, and Hannah has done her best up til now to help him out without attracting too much attention to herself as a ‘nerd lover.’ So strong is Malcolm’s Uncool that it would completely negate Hannah’s Cool. Hannah has begged Malcolm never to let on how well they know each other, and he doesn’t, but looking out for him is seriously putting a strain on her cred and her nerves. It’s like Malcolm is ASKING to be picked on–he even brings stuffed animals to school!
Hannah’s parents are suitably Disappointed when they see evidence of Hannah’s shunning Malcolm. Rather than lecture her, they give her some space to keep playing this hideous game, a move Publishers Weekly did not like, but that I consider more realistic. Hannah keeps walking the line, getting more and more distressed by the looming consequences.
It’s not like this is the only thing on her plate, though. Hannah’s brother, Ian, has muscular dystrophy. At twelve, Hannah is struggling with what it means to be the family of someone with such a disease. She hates the way the other kids won’t look her in the eye when the subject comes up. Recently he took a turn for a worse and is now in a wheelchair–they all have to acknowledge that his death will be much sooner than they anticipated. Add to that the lingering fear that she could be carrying the gene–a fear I share when it comes to cystic fibrosis.
Ian’s disease is the deus ex machina that causes things to come to a head. It’s a fairly satisfying ending, as such things go. A very sweet book, and a great choice for kids 9 or 10 and up.
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