Some Kind of Happiness

Starred review from February 29, 2016
Finley, 11, is sent to spend her summer at Hart House, her estranged grandparents’ country estate, while her parents deal with their divorce. Feeling like a stranger among her own family, she finds solace in the woods across the river because she believes them to be the real version of the magical Everwood she writes about. Legrand (The Year of Shadows) weaves portions of Finley’s tales seamlessly through the novel, building a foundation of understanding for Finley’s feelings of isolation and overwhelming sadness. As Finley allows her cousins into her imaginary world, she begins to trust her family and build friendships, but these new feelings of acceptance do not keep Finley’s depression and anxiety at bay. Legrand handles the tough subject of childhood mental health gently and honestly, and—through the dual narratives of Finley’s real and fantasy lives—paints a realistic picture of a girl trying to figure out what’s wrong with her. Finley’s quest to uncover family secrets reveals not just what kept her father away from his relatives but how a family sticks together through good times and bad. Ages 8–12. Agent: Diana Fox, Fox Literary.

March 15, 2016
Sometimes stories are a means of survival. Unhappy children often like to pretend that their parents aren't really their parents and that they secretly belong to a royal family. Finley is not a member of a royal family, but she's staying with long-lost relatives for the summer, by a deep forest. Her mom and dad are "having problems" and "need some space to work it out." Her father refuses to say why he stopped talking to his parents all those years ago, and clearly both house and family are full of secrets. Finley does her best to adjust and to get to know her relatives, and she begins writing fantasy stories about a deep forest and an orphan girl and a queen. Finley has a secret of her own. She's living with depression and anxiety, and the stories she writes on paper help her defend herself against the painful stories in her head. Legrand has pulled off a difficult trick in this novel. She's constructed a story-within-a-story fairy tale that's utterly compelling but sounds as though it was written by an 11-year-old girl. Finley's own story is even more compelling. Some of the family secrets are telegraphed too far in advance to be shocking, and some of the dialogue is too bluntly on-the-nose. But by the time the secrets are revealed, most readers will be too caught up in the story to stop reading. A layered, thoughtful exploration. (Fiction. 8-12)

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March 1, 2016

Gr 4-7-A multilayered plot, engaging characters, and more than one mystery highlight this ambitious novel. Eleven-year-old Finley spends a summer with her grandparents and a swarm of other relatives from her father's side of the family. Suffering from depression which is amplified by her parents' likely divorce, Finley escapes through writing. She creates elaborate tales about the magical Everwood forest, featuring herself as "the orphan girl." Everwood tales, neatly inserted into the narrative, parallel her own worries and triumphs. Exploring the real forest near her grandparents' home brings her hope; so do new friendships with her cousins and a trio of wild neighbor boys. As she defies her grandparents and tries to keep her debilitating "blue days" a secret, Finley also discovers family secrets from the past. She narrates most of the story in first person, present tense, with short paragraphs, formal language, and careful observation that establish her as an astute, intelligent, and very interesting protagonist. Finley inserts lists that help her make sense of things, along with frequent parenthetical asides that reveal her continual self-doubts. Multiple supporting characters are well drawn, becoming further developed as Finley learns more about each one. The central mystery, involving a fire, takes a while to resolve, but it's really Finley and her developing relationships with her extended family members that resonate most strongly. VERDICT Though the measured pace and mix of narrative styles will challenge some readers, Legrand successfully weaves it all into a rich, nuanced tale that culminates in a convincing and satisfying conclusion.-Steven Engelfried, Wilsonville Public Library, OR

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2016
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Eleven-year-old Finley Hart sometimes has blue days, when she wakes with an unshakable sadness or is overwhelmed by a racing panic that takes her breath away. The only thing that helps is the stories she writes about the Everwood, a magical forest where she is an orphan queen. A dark secret threatens this wood, however, and if Fin is to save it, she must first confront her own darkness, which weighs heavily on her heart. Her tales take on new life the summer Fin is sent to stay with her estranged grandparents while her parents work on their troubled marriage. Grandma and Grandpa Hart's sprawling house butts up against a real, live Everwood, and Fin's imagined realm soon casts a spell over her visiting cousins. Meanwhile, mounting family secrets add to Fin's anxieties, and it becomes evident that it will take more than stories to free her from her blue days. A quiet magic is at work in Legrand's novel, in which she adeptly interweaves Fin's imaginative writing with the real-life narrative, underpinning all with an appeal to honesty and self-acceptance. This beautiful and reflective tale carries echoes of Katherine Patterson's The Bridge to Terabithia (1977) and will resonate with thoughtful readers who enjoy pondering life's bigger questions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)