Sparrow by Sarah Moon - OPTIONAL

Moon, Sarah Sparrow, 272 pages.  Arthur A Levine (Scholastic), 2017.  $19.  

Language: PG (28 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: G; Violence: G.

Yes, Sparrow was on top of the school roof, but she had no intention to jump.  But Sparrow is paralyzingly shy and the change to middle school, coupled with the death of her favorite librarian who helped her survive elementary school, she is spiraling down in to a funk.  She escapes every day into a world of imagination where she flies with the birds she sees from the windows.  Now, however, her mom has relegated her to see a psychiatrist once a week and even though Sparrow is determined to give Dr. Katz nothing to head shrink her with, Sparrow’s resolve starts to crumble.

Told in three parts, I don’t know if students will make it through to the third part where Sparrow FINALLY starts taking control of her life and growing – and even that comes almost too late.  I must say, I did like this better than The Thing About Jellyfish.  But it moves slowly and will probably only be liked by other painfully shy girls who need to be in therapy.  I did like Rock Camp for Girls, though. I don’t know how much a difference it makes – Sparrow is mixed race – she does get teased for it some at school.

MS – OPTIONAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher