All Newbery winners and honor books deserve a good read. I had heard of Savvy by Ingid Law, but when I finally read it I was truly surprised to find it one of the best middle grade novels I've ever read. This book has everything: fantasy, magic, a tight family, a wild adventure and a twist at the end. I love, love, LOVE this book so much that I bought the audio version after I'd read it. I have yet to read the sequel, but I can't wait. I miss the Beaumont family.
Mississippi (Mips) Beaumont's thirteenth birthday is just days away. In the Beaumont family, the kids get their special powers, or as they call it their "savvy," on their thirteenth birthday--and it's never an easy thing. Mips' brother Fish got the power of water and weather on his birthday the year before, and his uncontrolled savvy created a hurricane! Mips can't imagine what her own savvy will be.
Then the Beaumont's lives are turned upside down when their father is involved in a car accident and ends up in a coma.
The preacher's wife, with her rebellious teenage daughter, Bobbi, and her son, Will Junior, pay a visit to the Beaumonts to see what they can do to help. Against Mips' wishes, they arrange a birthday party the next day at the church. No Beaumont wants a party with strangers around on a thirteenth birthday.
Mips becomes convinced that her "savvy" is the power to wake up things, and she is determined to get to Salina where her father is in the hospital so she can wake him up. Along with Bobbi, Will Junior and Mips' brothers Fish and Samson, Mips hides on a bus with the hopes it will get them to Salina. But the bus goes the other way. Meanwhile, Mips is hearing all sorts or voices in her head, and her brother Fish is anxious that her "savvy" has taken hold.
The bus driver agrees to take them to Salina the following day, but in the meantime they stop at a biker diner to drop off a stranded waitress, and Mips realizes that her "savvy" is the ability to hear tattoos talk to her and tell her all sorts of secrets. Then she and Fish see their faces on the local news with the message that they have been kidnapped.
Panicked to get out of the diner without being discovered, they are confronted by the angry diner manager, who fires the waitress and threatens Samson. The bus driver agrees to take them all to a motel for the night, where the lies go deeper: Mips convinces Bobbi to pretend she is the preacher's wife so they can all go to the hospital.
The bus driver's last stop reveals his wicked girlfriend, who kidnaps Samson. Mips is able to find him through her "savvy." Finally, they arrive at the hospital, where Mips is able to wake up her papa by listening to his mermaid tattoo.
BUY THIS BOOK. IT IS FAB!!
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