As a librarian, my favorite part of summer vacation (other than sleeping in) is having time to catch up on my reading. Far and away, my very favorite book this summer was a new middle grade novel by Lisa Graff called Absolutely Almost.
It's not often these days that I get giddy-excited about a new children's book. A large part of my job is connecting the right students with the right books, so, while I do read a lot of great children's literature, most of the time I'm reading so that I can figure out which books to recommend to which kids. Sometimes too-similar plots, characters, and settings blur together in my mind. When I'm lucky, I'll run across a children's book that I read for my job that I also happen to love on a personal level. However, it's very rare that a book is memorable, universal, and breathtaking enough for me to a.) want to re-read it just because I loved it and b.) want to recommend it to every child, teenager and adult I meet for the next month. (In case you hadn't guessed, that last part is true here!)
Absolutely Almost is Albie's story. Albie is a ten-year-old boy who has never seemed to be very good at anything. Figuring out the tip for the Chinese food delivery man? Impossible. Reading? It doesn't matter how hard Albie looks at the words on the page; they still never seem to make any sense. When Albie tries to draw a person, it just looks like a stick. No matter how hard he studies, he can't get any more than 7 spelling words right.
Now that his old school doesn't want him anymore, Albie starts to think that maybe nobody else will either. After all, what kind of dad would want to build a model airplane with a son who only earns Cs in spelling? And with a reality television crew filming his family, how could Albie's best friend Erlan have any time for Albie anymore?
On top of everything else that's going wrong, Albie's mom tells him that he's going to have a new babysitter. But Albie's too old for babysitters! Luckily, afternoons with Calista are more like just hanging out. She shows him how to draw a superhero, and she teaches him about things like Sad Days. And the best part is that she wants Albie to teach her things too!
With a new school and a new babysitter, suddenly fifth grade is looking up. Albie finally has a math teacher who makes some sort of sense. He meets a new friend who shares her gummy bears and doesn't care about who's cool and who's not cool, or whether Albie is any good in gym class. He has a teacher who doesn't seem to mind that the books he reads are too easy for fifth grade. He is actually really good at putting together a model airplane on his own. And Calista would never be able to navigate New York City without him!
Soon Albie begins to see that maybe some things are more important than being a fast reader. Maybe Albie has his own strengths that are the most special of all.
Absolutely Almost will break your heart in all of the best and most important ways.
If I had a mountain, I would climb straight to the top of it to sing this book's praises. However, since I don't have a mountain, this blog will have to do. I highly recommend Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff for all readers ages 10 and up. This would be a particularly great book for families to read and discuss together.
