All The Things You Are
Author: Courtney Sheinmel
Goodreads| Amazon| Author Website
For Carly Wheeler, life is good. She lives in a beautiful house with her stylish mom and her stepfather whom she loves. Carly’s mom is a stylist for the popular soap opera Lovelock Falls, and Carly and her best friend Annie love going with her mom to the set.
But in an instant everything changes when Carly’s mom is arrested and charged with embezzlement. Carly’s entire world is turned upside down. Her friends stop talking to her and she constantly worries about what’s going to happen to her mom. Money is tight and Carly doesn’t know what is going to happen to her home. Life suddenly isn’t so good anymore.
When I picked up this book from GalleyGrab, I wasn’t aware that it was a middle grade title. While this definitely wasn’t a problem, it was a little unexpected when I began reading and found that Carly was a bit younger than I originally thought. With that said, I still definitely enjoyed the book. This was the first middle grade book I’ve read since I was probably middle-grade myself, and I think this was a great place to start.I was extremely impressed by Sheinmel’s writing.
Sheinmel perfected Carly’s pre-teenage voice. From page one, I was completely engrossed in Carly’s story and I felt her emotions as strongly as I imagine Carly felt them. When Carly learned about what her mother had done, I honestly felt a pit in my stomach and wanted to yell out, “it’s not fair!” Sheinmel truly captured the emotions in a way that made readers feel as if they were Carly themselves.I also loved Carly’s strength. While she certainly didn’t like her situation and couldn’t do much to change it, she struggled with the changes in her life, but she remained strong. I kept trying to put myself in Carly’s shoes as I was reading the book…it doesn’t seem like a good place to be.
I was interested in Carly and her best friend Annie’s friendship. As soon as things went sour, Annie promptly ditched Carly. I think this was a pretty realistic plot line. Although Annie was immature and not very nice, this is exactly what I can see happening if a situation like this happened in real life. I obviously wasn’t Annie’s biggest fan, but I thought it was nice that Sheinmel kept this story so realistic.
Like my friend Lauren said in her review of this book, the plot really is one of a kind. I was impressed by the unique story. I’ve definitely never read a book about a young girl dealing with a serious issue like embezzlement. The fact that Sheinmel took on this tough topic was pretty impressive. I think young girls who read this book can learn a lot from a protagonist like Carly.
I especially liked the educational aspect of this book. Readers learn a lot about the court system and all that goes into a trial. I know I certainly learned some new things that I never knew before. I like that part of the book took place in the court room…I especially think young readers who pick up this book will be intrigued by these scenes.
A major theme in ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE is forgiveness and the importance of learning to forgive. With forgiveness comes acceptance. While Carly certainly doesn’t have to forgive her mother for losing her trust, she chooses to and is better off because of it. With that forgiveness came a sense of peace, and gave Carly to courage to move on.
4/5
Review copy provided by GalleyGrab.
I’ve read a few middle grade titles in the past few years and was, for the most part, pretty impressed with the stories! Teashop Girls comes to mind — a really fun book. And this one sounds great and unique, too!
@Meg @ write meg!, I’ll definitely have to check that one out! I’m not sure I could read solely middle grade, like I can YA, but it’s still a good genre to learn more about.
I recently just finished a book that I would probably consider middle grade. Even though the character was young — I found myself relating to her and really enjoying the book. I guess you could say it almost brought out a younger side of me. I’m thinking that revisiting some books like this wouldn’t be such a bad idea for me. They are lighter than adult or YA but still fun and interesting. This one appeals to me because I am obsessed with law and courts — I wanted to be lawyer for a huge part of my life.