 |
| Mustaches for Maddie by Chad Morris & Shelly Brown |
"Maddie is a normal twelve-year-old girl. Well, except for the fake mustaches she carries in her pocket. She likes to make people laugh and slapping on a mustache, especially a fuzzy pink or neon green one, always gets a smile. Maddie hopes that the class queen, Cassie, will find her mustaches as funny as she does and want to play with her at recess. She's been self-conscious lately because her right arm only feels normal when it's curled against her chest and she's constantly tripping over her feet. But that's probably just part of growing up and not something weird, right?
When Maddie's arm continues to bother her, her parents take her to a doctor who gives them a shocking diagnosis: the cause of the abnormal behavior of her limbs is a brain tumor and she must have surgery to remove it. She's understandably afraid as he describes the procedure, but knows she must find a way to be brave and must face her fears--all of them--at the hospital, at home and at school.
She will need all of her courage not only to face her illness, but also to face Cassie at school. Both Cassie and Maddie are auditioning for the same role in the school play, but when Cassie accuses Maddie of lying about her tumor in order to get attention, Cassie's bossiness turns into bullying.
And as Maddie's surgery approaches, she begins to worry more and more about the outcome. What if something goes wrong? What if the doctors don't get all the tumor out of her brain? What will happen to her family? What will happen to her?
It will take all of Maddie's vibrant imagination, a lot of kindness-both given and received-and of course, the perfect mustache to overcome the tough stuff ahead of her."
I read so many amazing reviews about this book that I think I was expecting too much..... the new Wonder or something. It definitely was not that. It was a sweet, relatively cheesy story about a young girl with a brain tumor. Some parts felt very, very young, so I'm not sure how middle schoolers will feel about it. There is the requisite "mean girl", who is really so horribly mean that I'm not sure why we should care about what happens to her. There is the whole mustache thing that would be mocked mercilessly in middle school. So even though this book is based on the authors' daughter and her experiences, it didn't feel real at all. However, it may transfer to all of our students who love realistic fiction about medical issues. We'll see. It's a very safe, tame read.
Areas of concern:
*A viciously mean girl.
*Serious medical issues for a young girl.
*If religious references concern you, there is talk of a family praying for their daughter. No prayers are stated, just that prayers are being said.
Areas of concern:
*A viciously mean girl.
*Serious medical issues for a young girl.
*If religious references concern you, there is talk of a family praying for their daughter. No prayers are stated, just that prayers are being said.
Suggested Ages:
Publisher's Weekly - Ages 8-11
School Library Journal - Grades 4-6
