Story summary: Gypsy comes into her savvy power on her 13th birthday, and it is the grand and difficult one of seeing people's pasts and futures. But when the Beaumonts' unpleasant grandmother moves in and runs away, suddenly everyone's powers go topsy turvy. Now it's up to Gypsy and her brothers to rescue their grandma without betraying their secret or destroying the town.
Sequel to Savvy and Scumble.
- A great cast of characters. (Samson and his fire and emo-ness and adorable crush! Del and his fake power! Grandma and her grumpy forgetfulness! Momma and her perfect imperfection!)
- Really wholesome and family-oriented, without being kitschy, as many movies/books about family is. (In other words, as someone raised in a large, Catholic family, it rang true for me.)
And Why You Might Not:
- A little too simple for me, with a less unique main character than I was hoping for and some unexplained plot twists.
Thoughts: Savvy is one of my favourite modern children's books. The magic, the fun, the family. Each individual family member was awesome, as was their relationships to each other and other people. Scumble was great too, although I enjoyed the Beaumonts from Savvy more.
And there was plenty to enjoy in this book too. Samson! His powers were great, and the love story was the cutest. The grandmother was feisty and complex. Her Altimeter's seemed to be treated very well to me, although I don't have the experience to say this definitively. The family in these stories are so great, and yet I was a little less impressed with the main family member in this story: Gypsy, one of the youngest of the Beaumonts. I remember from the previous books that Gypsy seemed like she was going to be so distinct and much fun, and I really anticipated reading about her. But here she seemed too much of a standard point-of-view character. Her personality didn't seem to quite fit her savvy in the way that the rest of them did. She was overshadowed by the rest of the cast.
But I will read any new books by Ingrid Law as quickly as possible. It is so rare to find a book so wholesome and yet so fun at the same time. (They actually go to church and everything. Although note, their Faith really isn't a big part of the story, and non-religious people would likely have absolutely no issue with it.) It seems to me that the author must have some experience with large families or faith, to avoid the pitfalls many seem to fall into.
Short cover note: for both the previous covers, I wasn't too fond of them until I read the books, after which I loved them. Not sure why that happened. Maybe because I don't tend to like colourful covers, and yet they're surprisingly suitable to the tone of the story?
That didn't happen with this one, though. I stayed in my ambivalent stage even after finishing the book. I'm thinking it might be all the snow? Not a huge fan of snow on covers.
And there was plenty to enjoy in this book too. Samson! His powers were great, and the love story was the cutest. The grandmother was feisty and complex. Her Altimeter's seemed to be treated very well to me, although I don't have the experience to say this definitively. The family in these stories are so great, and yet I was a little less impressed with the main family member in this story: Gypsy, one of the youngest of the Beaumonts. I remember from the previous books that Gypsy seemed like she was going to be so distinct and much fun, and I really anticipated reading about her. But here she seemed too much of a standard point-of-view character. Her personality didn't seem to quite fit her savvy in the way that the rest of them did. She was overshadowed by the rest of the cast.
But I will read any new books by Ingrid Law as quickly as possible. It is so rare to find a book so wholesome and yet so fun at the same time. (They actually go to church and everything. Although note, their Faith really isn't a big part of the story, and non-religious people would likely have absolutely no issue with it.) It seems to me that the author must have some experience with large families or faith, to avoid the pitfalls many seem to fall into.
Short cover note: for both the previous covers, I wasn't too fond of them until I read the books, after which I loved them. Not sure why that happened. Maybe because I don't tend to like colourful covers, and yet they're surprisingly suitable to the tone of the story?
That didn't happen with this one, though. I stayed in my ambivalent stage even after finishing the book. I'm thinking it might be all the snow? Not a huge fan of snow on covers.
Grade: 3 stars
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