Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Savvy

Middle Grade Author Shannon Whitney Messenger began Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays a while back. If you love middle grade literature, check out her blog for a list of other sites featuring MG books.

Today I’ll talk about Savvy by Ingrid Law.

From Goodreads: For generations, the Beaumont family has harbored a magical secret. They each possess a “savvy” -a special supernatural power that strikes when they turn thirteen. Grandpa Bomba moves mountains, her older brothers create hurricanes and spark electricity . . . and now it’s the eve of Mibs’s big day.

As if waiting weren’t hard enough, the family gets scary news two days before Mibs’s birthday: Poppa has been in a terrible accident. Mibs develops the singular mission to get to the hospital and prove that her new power can save her dad. So she sneaks onto a salesman’s bus . . . only to find the bus heading in the opposite direction. Suddenly Mibs finds herself on an unforgettable odyssey that will force her to make sense of growing up -and of other people, who might also have a few secrets hidden just beneath the skin.

From Vicki: I have been recommending this book to every child of appropriate age (from 8 up, depending on the reader). Neighbors, friends, family. Everyone. From the first sentence, Mibs’s voice leaps off the page at you. Any backstory is so fascinating that you just want more. And the plot is a rollicking joyride. Actually, a heartwarming and rollicking joyride.

I loved the theme that we all have a savvy, even if not in the sense of the Beaumont family. We all have something special about us, our own kind of magic.

And the family names – from Grandpa Bomba and Grandma Dollop to Mibs (short for Mississippi) and her siblings (Rocket, Fish, Samson, and Gypsy). My kids got a kick out of hearing about the characters.

What books can’t you stop recommending to everyone who’ll listen?