Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
May 2008, 352 pages
Paperback:
Mar 2010, 368 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Jo Perry
Buy This Book
For generations, the Beaumont family has harbored a magical secret. They each possess a “savvy” – a special supernatural power that strikes when they turn thirteen. Grandpa Bomba moves mountains, her older brothers create hurricanes and spark electricity…and now it’s the eve of Mib’s big day.
As if waiting weren’t hard enough, the family gets scary news two days before Mibs’s birthday: Poppa has been in a terrible accident. Mibs develops the singular mission to get to the hospital and prove that her new power can save her dad. So she sneaks onto a salesman’s bus…only to find the bus heading in the opposite direction. Suddenly Mibs finds herself on an unforgettable odyssey that will force her to make sense of growing up – and of other people, who might also have a few secrets hidden just beneath the skin.
Excerpt
Savvy
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. I had liked living down
south on the edge of land, next to the pushing-pulling waves.
I had liked it with a mighty kind of liking, so moving had
been hard—hard like the pavement the first time I fell off
my pink two-wheeler and my palms burned like fire from
all of the hurt just under the skin. But it was plain that fish
could live nowhere near or nearby or next to or close to or
on or around any largish bodies of water. Water had a way
of triggering my brother and making ordinary, everyday
weather take a frightening turn for the worse.
Unlike any normal hurricane, fish’s birthday storm
had started without warning. One minute, my brother
was tearing paper from presents in our backyard near
the beach; the next minute, both fish and the afternoon
sky went a funny and fearsome ...
With Savvy, Law bets everything on a single conceit, the idea of a family whose members each possess a unique, sometimes whimsical, sometimes supernatural, talent, which manifests itself on the bearer's thirteenth birthday. Law asserts that her characters' talents or savvys are "not ... sorcery," but an "inheritance, like brown eyes or ... [a] talent for dancing to polka music ..." However, because of the 'magical' element to the story, bookstores may feel obligated to market it on the Fantasy shelf and readers expecting extravagant otherworldliness will be disappointed...continued
Full Review
(581 words)
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access,
become a member today.
(Reviewed by Jo Perry).
The memory of her family's visits to the
World's Largest Porch Swing in Hebron, Nebraska, sustains Mibs during the bumpy bus ride to Salina where her seriously injured father is hospitalized.
Wackiness like The World's Largest Porch Swing has a sweetness in Savvy
and has nothing to do with kitschiness. Instead, Law is inviting us to celebrate
uniqueness wherever we find it, especially in ourselves. So if you can't make it
to Hebron to see the swing, the World's
Largest Things website will tell you what's unique in your neck of the
woods, i.e. Kingsburg California's World's Largest Box of Raisins; Minnesota's
World's Largest Ball of Twine, or Oklahoma's World's Largest praying hands.
Another good website for exploring the ...
This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.
If you liked Savvy, try these:
by Brian Selznick
Published 2011
Playing with the form he created in his trailblazing debut novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick once again sails into uncharted territory and takes readers on an awe-inspiring journey.
by Maryrose Wood
Published 2011
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place are no ordinary children, Miss Penelope Lumley is no ordinary governess, and mysteries abound in this first volume in a new series for ages 9+.
The Stone Home
by Crystal Hana Kim
A moving family drama and coming-of-age story revealing a dark corner of South Korean history.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
