Breadcrumbs in Crazy Challenge Connection

Feb 03, 2020 BookishStitcher rated it really liked it

Beautifully written middle grade novel about imagination and the power of friendship.

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Nov 07, 2013 Linda C rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, contemporary-fiction, young-adult, cultural, indian

Hazel and Jack are 11 year old best friends with a great interest in fantasy worlds and baseball. But they both are having family issues to deal with and feel as if they don't fit in at school. Hazel's father has left and is getting remarried. This necessitated a change in schools where her culture stands out (she was adopted as a baby from India). Jack's mother is suffering from depression and his home life is fragile. These next door neighbors have been each other's support until Jack begins t ...more

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Nov 17, 2023 Chaitra rated it did not like it

Shelves: childrens-fiction, child-or-teenage-protagonist, child-in-peril, middle-grade

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. One of my pet peeves is when books romanticize or stigmatize mental health or disorders. Even in books written for young people, especially in books written for young people.

This is also a really bad depiction of public schools. Hazel went to a private school where she was treated as a special snowflake, but dad moves out and the money stops and now she has to go to a public school where no one understands her. In actuality they do so better than the private school, and they want her issues iden One of my pet peeves is when books romanticize or stigmatize mental health or disorders. Even in books written for young people, especially in books written for young people.

This is also a really bad depiction of public schools. Hazel went to a private school where she was treated as a special snowflake, but dad moves out and the money stops and now she has to go to a public school where no one understands her. In actuality they do so better than the private school, and they want her issues identified so she can stop being disruptive and also achieve academically. But the way this book treats underpaid counselors and teaching staff is horrendous. The whole section where this child has a mental commentary on everything about the counselor, including his choice of decor, with absolutely no self-awareness, was one of the saddest things I've read. To be clear, I felt sad for the counselor. There's nothing wrong with whatever the counselor does, and he judges her less than she does him.

Hazel isn't all right but for more reasons than she goes on and on in the book. It's not just that she doesn't fit, it's that she's got nothing going on in her life that doesn't revolve around Jack. She has attention issues and has trouble controlling her anger. She comes across as non-neurotypical and instead of taking the counseling offered to her, her problems are solved by magic. I get that the idea is that there's nothing wrong with thinking differently, but the way the book goes about doing that is to validate every single thing that Hazel does while simultaneously putting down everyone else. There's a line where Hazel says that school is easy now that she's switched off her heart. So, is every bright student and/or one who enjoys school heartless? The way the book portrays everyone who is not Hazel (or Jack before "magic freezes his heart"), this is indeed what it's trying to say. Words matter, and this book was a waste of them.

I'm not even getting into the magic forest because it's just a pastiche of better written scenes from better books. ...more

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Jun 04, 2014 Kathy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed-books, fantasy-magic, young-adult, books-read-in-2014, realistic-fiction, nbrc-wheelathon, retelling-fairytales

BREADCRUMBS - Anne Ursu

Hazel and Jack were best friends from the time they were both six to now 11yrs old. They shared everything, and both were very imaginative. Then out of the blue one day Jack does not want to be her friend. Hazel wracks her brain as to what she had done wrong to make Jack not want to be her friend anymore. Then one day Jack goes missing in the woods and Hazel goes after him to bring her best friend home.

This book has elements of Realistic Fiction in dealing with relationshi ...more

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