REVIEW for All The Things You Are

Thank you, thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for sending me a copy of this book.

TITLE:               All the Things You Are

AUTHOR:          Courtney Sheinmel

GENRE:             Middle Grade

RATING:           4 Stars

The first word that comes to mind as I am writing this review is "cute".  While I don't normally read a lot of middle grade books, this one caught my eye and I absolutely thought it was a great little read.

Carly Wheeler has a great life - complete with best friend and a great relationship with her  mother who works on a very popular soap opera.  Except that all of this is about to change when her mom is suddenly accused of stealing.

Firstly, I love Carly.  While her "perfect" life is thrown into chaos, she remains a grounded, no fuss/no muss character.  She is not annoying and she is not a spoiled brat - what a nice change of pace.

Secondly, the author does a great job of showing us the "before" and "after".  How quickly lives can get destroyed and how you just simply can't know what is going inside a person's mind/life by just looking at them.

Thirdly, for a middle grade book, this storyline packs a serious punch - showing us how delicate life can be, but if you have friends, family and hope anything is possible.

Well written, highly entertaining, heartbreaking at times and always, always written with humility and respect.  Loved this book.