I am Andi, by JR Balthazar (Ruby Red, 2022, 210 pp, $21.99, children's book)
More Andi books, please!
Boys and girls alike will want to read this book in one sitting! Author JR Balthazar remembers what it's like to be adopted and 11 and fight with your also-adopted brothers (but defend them again others), and be embarrassed by them and suffer the consequences of bullying and go to sleep-over camp and have two BFFs.
And the Puppy!
Your brother wants a border collie but gets a lab puppy for his birthday so he gives it to you but the birthday party is crashed by the new bratty kids down the street who attach balloons to the puppy and . . . .
Balthazar writes almost in one long sentence. Nothing unusual happens in this family but you read it faster and faster because you can identify with Andi whether you are a girl in the middle or a boy. Her older brother keeps getting kicked out of schools (ADHD) and her younger brother is on the spectrum. Her dad is in the military and that makes just your ordinary average American family.
I am Andi reads like a letter from your mom when you are away - full of ordinary everyday occurrences that read like home because they take you home again, even if the situations are different.
Glossaries Help
At the end of the book is a page of shortcuts for those who don't text much (LOL, WTH, TBC, etc.) to translate the last word of each chapter and one or two inside each as well (not too many). Next to that glossary is a page of simple diagrams (Andrika symbols) which also start each chapter instead of a chapter title (though it took this reviewer five chapters to make the connection) which foretells that chapter's situation.
We need more Andi books!
No comments:
Post a Comment