Part 3 and 4

[Krista]

That's it! A quicker read for this month.

Did you enjoy this Middle Grade pick?
Do you think kids would enjoy this one?
Why do you think it won a Newbery Honor medal?
What were your final impressions of Boy and his journey?
Would you read another book by this author?
What themes did you see in this book?
What will you rate it?

[Kathie66]

I loved it!! Flew through it, and enjoyed it immensely. Yes, I think it would resonate with kids. So many themes were touched upon, empathy, forgiveness, belonging, and redemption are a few. I was truly touched by Boy and his journey. I would read more by this author, 5 stars for me. Thank you for bringing this little gem to my attention!

[Catherine]

I finished the Book of Boy yesterday. I don't know how I feel about the book. It took a couple of chapters for me to get into it. And then I was so excited to see where the journey lead Boy and Secundus. But I have to say I was a bit disappointed in the ending.. so I would only give it I guess 3 stars. I liked it, but wasn't blown away by it.

[Kristi]

I initially thought about DNFing it. I am so glad that I didn't. I loved the unexpected (for me) moments that happened within the story. Like I said in my review there were some things I didn't understand but the things I did made up for it.

I would definitely read more books by this author. I've actually been thinking about reading more books set in this time period because of it. I gave the book 4 stars.

[Karen]

This one was just okay for me. It picked up toward the end. I ended up giving it 3 stars. Loving middle grade March!

[Kim]

I can’t believe I was meh about this book. I ended up just loving it. Definitely left me teary eyed. As Boy flew away, my heart soared with him. And I so love just even the thought that those that are viewed as “imperfect” or “flawed” are our angels among us. Beautiful book.
I will say, the book indicated 8-12 years old. My oldest grandson is 8 but reads sixth grade level and I don’t know how he would do with this particular book,only in that some of the verbiage and references were even ones I wasn’t sure about. Of course that may say a lot more about me than about this book.
4.5 Stars. Left me a very happy reader.
Now on to The Girl Who Drank the Moon. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[Debbi]

I am not sure how I feel about this book. I found myself having to backtrack a lot to keep all of the events in order.
I did Google quite a bit of the historical parts and found that interesting. The "Pestilence" was the Black Plague. It killed a over half the population. The banking industry collapsed too so both of those things together brought an end to a long period of economic growth in Italy.
I liked that Secondus did not turn out to be as cruel as he seemed at first and that was good. :-)

[Jill]

I was actually wanting to read this for a year and a half or so and finally picked it up with the online library! Sadly I am glad it was a library book and not something I actually purchased because I am feeling ambivalent leaning toward annoyed by it.


*spoilers*(?)



I thought the plot was a bit too obvious and I felt terrible for Boy at the end of his story and not quite sure if it was the happy ending he wanted or was just forcing himself to fit in and BE happy. Sort of like the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Also before I knew the truth I considered that Secundus might have leprosy, which would have made him a more interesting character to me in the long run....I am not entirely sure why Boy was so fiercely loyal to him in the first place. Having an illness that made everyone despise both parties would have done a lot to draw them together.

I also felt it was pushing a lot of gender identity stuff on probably unsuspecting readers and that made the ending even more troubling.

[Kirjapallo]

Firstly: Thank you for postponing the Instagram live discussion, because I didn't manage to read this book in time! :D

I'm just going to answer these questions:

Did you enjoy this Middle Grade pick?
I did enjoy it, but I didn't love it.

Do you think kids would enjoy this one?
That's a good question! I feel like this was meant for a read aloud book for a 11+ year old and a parent, because this has so much violence and special vocabulary. I believe children would like the "talking" animals and probably discussions with their parent.

Why do you think it won a Newbery Honor medal?
The themes are good: what is right and what is wrong, kindness, tolerance, prejudice, greed, non-binary gender... Parents can have interesting discussions with their children. Also the historical and religious setting is quite unusual.

What were your final impressions of Boy and his journey?
It was interesting to follow Boy and Secundus, mainly because I wanted to know more about Boy. But the truth about Boy we learned already in the halfway point and after that we got hardly any information!

I felt like there were too many relics, because my heart ached every time they did something evil just to get another relic... And I wondered the whole time, how can Boy be a part of something like this??

I didn't understand some of the scenes, but that may be because I'm not a native English speaker. (But why didn't the monks see Boy in the tomb??)

Also, I didn't quite understand the ending: Why did Secundus go to heaven?

Would you read another book by this author?
Probably, if it's not religious.

What themes did you see in this book?
Kindness, tolerance, prejudice, greed, right and wrong.

What will you rate it?
I'll give it 3 stars.

[Krista]

I finished this the other day. I think it will be a 3 star read for me. I didn't feel like some things were developed quite enough. For example it seemed like Secundus was rude, rude, rude and then boom, now he cares for Boy?!? Where did that come from?

I liked the reveal that happened at the end of part 2. I wasn't thinking anything like that at all. I was wondering why Boy was so desperate to get to Rome all of a sudden.

I did love how Boy communicated with animals. I think that's the most approachable part of this story for young readers. The animals were each pretty quirky and added some fun to this story.

Overall I gave this one 3 stars. I liked it, but didn't love it.

[Wendy]

I am not sure how I feel. I just finished it about five minutes ago and think I will let it set overnight before I decide what stars I will give it. I do think feel the same way as some of the readers above that it is a story that should be read together as a family. I think if read out loud children will understand it better. The story itself I found to have many themes to it. We learn about love, shame, trust, hope, happiness, disappointment and redemption. I am sure there are many more that I am not thinking of. I actually liked the ending and liked how Boy helped Milord see that his wife and son were waiting for him at the gate of Heaven and that they would be there when he was ready to come home to them. I liked that he finally used his wings and flew.

[Kate]

I read this book as my only shout-out to Middle Grade March. I found the first half very engaging-- disability representation (Boy is a hunchback), communication with animals and a promise of an adventure or an engaging quest. The second half was disappointing as Boy was not a hunchback after all but an angel.... was that BECAUSE he was a hunchback or what? People with disabilities have grown used to being represented as either fools or angels. Really we are just people who have disabilities. In addition, I ended up disliking the fantasy involved. As a child believe it or not I enjoyed more realistic books portraying people with differences, whether they be racial, sexual orientation or other types. This fantasy/historical book just didn't quite do it for me. That being said, I can see how Boy's relationship with the animals as well as the adventure/fantasy aspect might appeal to some readers. The book was good, but not great.