Hummingbird

I saw Hummingbird by Natalie Lloyd received a Schneider Family Book Award this year (which honors an author for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences). The book description says, "Twelve-year-old homeschooled Olive is tired of being seen as 'fragile' just because she has osteogenesis imperfecta (otherwise known as brittle bone disease) so she's thrilled when she finally convinces her parents to let her attend Macklemore Elementary. Olive can't wait to go to a traditional school and make the friends she's always longed for, until a disastrous first day dashes her hopes of ever fitting in. Then Olive hears whispers about a magical, wish-granting hummingbird that supposedly lives near Macklemore. It'll be the solution to all her problems! If she can find the bird and prove herself worthy, the creature will make her most desperate, secret wish come true. When it becomes clear that she can't solve the mystery on her own, Olive teams up with some unlikely allies who help her learn the truth about the bird. And on the way, she just might learn that our fragile places lead us to the most wonderful magic of all . . ."

This was a good read. It was a little slow for me until closer to the end, and I found myself a little confused by the genre (was it realistic fiction or fantasy?), which was distracting. (But by the end I figured out it was a little bit of both--magical realism.) But I loved Olive from the start and thought she was just a wonderful character. I thought the author did a great job with so making so many of the characters so likeable, including Olive's parents, Grace, and Hatch. I really loved the ending of the book and how things fell together; I may have shed a tear or two. I also loved reading the author's note at the end and learning that the author has OI just like Olive. I really loved the author's description of her journey of creating Olive's character in the book. I think I'll recommend this book to my 12-year-old daughter.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)