The Thing With Feathers by McCall Hoyle
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
Emilie Day believes in playing it safe: she’s homeschooled, her best friend is her seizure dog, and she’s probably the only girl on the Outer Banks of North Carolina who can’t swim.
Then Emilie’s mom enrolls her in public school, and Emilie goes from studying at home in her pj’s to halls full of strangers. To make matters worse, Emilie is paired with starting point guard Chatham York for a major research project on Emily Dickinson. She should be ecstatic when Chatham shows interest, but she has a problem. She hasn’t told anyone about her epilepsy.
Emilie lives in fear her recently adjusted meds will fail and she’ll seize at school. Eventually, the worst happens, and she must decide whether to withdraw to safety or follow a dead poet’s advice and “dwell in possibility.”
MY OPINION: *****
Homeschooled new girl.
Lost parent to cancer.
Can't swim.
This book was so absolutely amazing that I couldn't give it anything but a five star rating! I really loved this so much and I can't believe I never read it before.
I actually got this book for a dollar at a used bookstore and I had it in a huge stack by my bed, just waiting for me to read. I finished the assigned books from school that I had to read and I had nothing left so I was looking for something short: this book seemed interesting so why not?
I grabbed it and started reading and was instantly immersed.
There were so many similarities between me and the main character, Emilie, that I couldn't help but completely connect with her.
1. Both of us were homeschooled at some point in our lives, and put into public school a few years later, though she started in high school and I started at the very end of elementary school. Her experiences at her school were quite different from mine, but more on that later.
2. Neither of us can swim. She has epilepsy; when she started learning how to swim, she seized in the water and never tried again. I don't really have a real excuse other than the fact that I'm not supposed to really be around chlorine, not that I'm allergic but...
3. Both of us have lost a parent. I don't really want to get into that but it's true and we both had to deal with the aftershocks of it, and also the effects of living with a single parent, though I also have a sister and she didn't.
4. Both of us enjoy English, though I do have to say that maybe I do just a little more, considering that I'm ALWAYS writing while Emilie is more just a good writer in general.
One thing that I absolutely scoffed at was this: Chatham.
I'm not going to deny it: I love Chatham! He was the most romantic guy and the way that he was so freely able to show Emilie that he was so desperate for her to date him was amazingly unique and sweet.
However, NOBODY FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE NEW GIRL JUST LIKE THAT.
Sure, maybe it was "meant to be" but no, that doesn't happen in real life. Also, Emilie's reaction to his proposals was really annoying. Yes, you have epilepsy but you're always talking about wanting to be normal so WHY NOT DATE THE BEST GUY EVER. AND MAYBE JUST TELL HIM THAT YOU RANDOMLY GET SEIZURES SO THAT HE DOES NOT GET MAD AT YOU LATER ON FOR "LYING" TO HIM.
Ayla was a great character but I thought that she was kind of always just there and she was a little nagging to Emilie in my opinion. I honestly don't know.
I loved all of the metaphors in this book and the allegorical statements that the author made. I thought that this book was very well-written. I would recommend this book to YA readers.
Main Character: Emilie
Sidekick(s): Chatham, Ayla, Hitch, etc
Villain(s): Epilepsy, lying, Roger *HAHA* etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This was all very real to life.
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