cbr13bingo FREE
In late June 2021 I started Izzy Kline Has Butterflies while sitting at a table, outside the local café which was closed, and I was eating a greasy piece of pizza from the shop up the road. But I figured the owners would not mind. I know them well enough, and it was not like I was being disrespectful while enjoying this treat. Besides, it was too nice to sit inside. Therefore, it was only appropriate that I finish Beth Ain’s book sitting a few tables over from that first table, also on a closed café day, just not as sunny (in fact it would start to sprinkle before I would finish).
Izzy is a fourth grader trying to be herself. She is trying to deal with “not being okay” and only wanting everything to be “okay” once again. She does not want her parents divorced, her brother teasing her, the girls at school not being her friends, and especially does not want to get into trouble. These feelings are universal and relatable to anyone reading.
I think as an 8-or-9-year-old (to about 12-years-old) I would probably have enjoyed this book. It seems a bit abstract at first (it seemed to be prose poetry but did not fit the format of what I had come to know as a prose poetry novel). Yet, it is poetic and set up to fit that format even if not completely traditional. As an adult, the “best friend” and “issues with siblings” and “parents/divorce issues” seemed trite and done before. There is nothing new (even the best friend has a health crisis). Yet, I can see where a young kid having the “bad butterflies” (dealing with first days, parents’ divorce, ex-best friends, bullies, even disappointments and getting something special and still nervous about it) can relate. It is a nice book. Nothing bad, nothing WOW, but comfortable and the reader can enjoy the journey. Beth Ain’s novel is a nice book, cozy read.
This could be an interesting book for a parent/child book group.
[And of course, thi is my FREE! selection as it is the easiest block for me as I have ALL THE ARCS!!!! (muawhahahaha), okay I a lot of the ARCs]