From the Jacket Flap:
Mibs Beaumont is about to become a teenager. As if that prospect weren’t scary enough, thirteen is when a Beaumonth’s savvy strikes – and with one brother who causes hurricanes and another who creates electricity, it promises to be outrageous … and positively thrilling.
But just before her big day, Poppa is in a terrible accident. Suddenly, Mibs’s dreams of X-ray vision disappear like a flash of her brother’s lightning: All she wants now is a savvy that will save Poppa. In fact, Mibs is so sure she’ll get that powerful savvy that she sneaks a ride to the hospital on a rickety bus, with her siblings and the preacher’s kids in tow. But when the bus starts heading in the wrong direction only one thing is certain: After this extraordinary adventure not a soul on board will ever be the same.
The Snapshot Review
What I Liked: Unusual premise, strong characterization, engrossing plot, great fantasy elements set within our contemporary world. This book also delivers some very wonderful messages without being at all preachy.
Fantastic First Line: When my brother Fish turned thirteen, we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that he’d caused it.
Ms. Bookish’s Very Quick Take: This is a wonderful book that will have you laughing, crying and rejoicing with the characters. Highly recommended.
The Full Review of Savvy
The Beaumonts are an unusual family: at the age of 13, each family member comes into his or her own “savvy”. A savvy is a special talent, something that makes a person unique. It’s not that ordinary people can’t have a savvy; in fact, we all do, but with the Beaumonts, the savvies are much more unusual and pronounced.
Mibs (short for “Mississippi”) Beaumont is eagerly awaiting her thirteenth birthday when the book begins; for the Beaumonts, turning 13 is a significant event. Her two older brothers, Rocket and Fish, already have their savvies, and Mibs is excited about finally getting her own savvy. But disaster strikes two days before her birthday: Poppa gets into a serious accident on the way home from work, and is in the hospital in Salina, 90 miles away from their home town of Hebron.
Savvy starts off with a bang, and from there continues to pull the reader into its tale, which proves to be a consistent ride that’s filled with wonderful characters and a whole lot of hope. Mibs’s savvy turns out to be a very unusual one – I had a great time imagining how the author, Ingrid Law, first conceived of a savvy like Mibs’s.
The characters are wonderfully defined; it’s easy to fall in love with each of them as we get to know them better. They are the driving force behind this book; and ultimately, we discover that what Momma says is true. All of us ordinary humans have our own special savvy; most of us just don’t know it.
Savvy is a story about growing up, coming to know yourself, and learning to see beyond appearances. It’s a tale of hope and love, with a touch of redemption mixed in. We learn that we are each very special, with unique gifts that make us who we are. Law manages to incorporate all of this into Savvy while still making the story and the characterization the priority, and the result is a book that leaves the reader filled with all sorts of wonderful emotions when she turns over that last page.
One of my favourite lines: “You never can tell when a bad thing might make a good thing happen.” This is another theme to the book, one which offers readers, young and old alike, a different way of looking at the events, every day and otherwise, that happen around us. It is, I think, a very timely and much-needed outlook.
I enjoyed this book immensely. Savvy is a book that I can see myself re-reading; it grabs hold of the reader gently but firmly, with a handful of great characters and a fun fantastical plot. Ms. Bookish’s Rating: A+: A Keeper ?
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Sounds like a good one. I always like the storys that have a little magic in them. :-)
Wow! A book worth re-reading. It sound fabulous. Thanks for the review.
Excellent, complete review. Thank you. I read and reviewed this a month or so ago, and successfully presented it to a group of librarians. Wonderful book, isn’t it? Thanks for the review.
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I loved Savvy, probably one of my favorite reads of the year. It really just enchanted me, which surprised me because I did not know if I would like it when I read the description. I am looking forward to reading more from Ingrid Law.
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