Hazel's Theory of Evolution

August 15, 2019
Hazel Brownlee-Wellington is an encyclopedia of animal facts, lives on a goat farm, and is penning a guide to misunderstood creatures. Not one to easily make friends, 13-year-old Hazel doesn't plan to get close to anyone when she starts eighth grade at a new school. She just has to keep her head down until high school, when her life will return to normal with her reunion with her longtime best friend. Then one of her moms announces she's pregnant. Mimi has already had two miscarriages; Hazel, understandably, refuses to be hopeful. She's determined to live in denial until the new baby is born safe and healthy. Although she has a loving family, two new friends, and a herd of goats to keep her company, nothing is easy. She hopes On the Origin of Species will help her make sense of the changes in her life, but not even Charles Darwin can explain the challenges of growing up. Hazel's emotional growth--her increasing understanding of who she was, is, and will be--is gradual. Her first-person narration is insightful; she's highly likable, and her troubles and triumphs will sound familiar to many. Hazel, her biological mother, and her brother are white. The broad diversity among other characters is incorporated naturally: Mimi is black; one new friend, Carina, is a Mexican American trans girl, and another, Yoshi, a cis-boy, is Japanese American and uses a wheelchair. Warm and memorable. (Fiction. 8-13)

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 9, 2019
Eighth-grader Hazel, who is white, isn’t happy about being redistricted to a new Michigan middle school. Although classmates at her old school teased her about her family’s goat farm, where she lives with her interracial mothers (one African-American and one white) and brother Rowan, at least she had a best friend, Becca, who understood her. Starting somewhere new without Becca isn’t Hazel’s only concern, however. After enduring two miscarriages, one of her moms is pregnant again, and Hazel is afraid that history will repeat itself. She wishes she could hibernate, but then two other outsiders befriend her: transgender girl Carina and Yosh, who sports a green Mohawk and uses a wheelchair. Meanwhile, Hazel feels increasingly distanced from Becca, who is busy with her new cheerleading friends, including the bully who dubbed Hazel “goat girl” in kindergarten. This tale traces Hazel’s inner metamorphosis as she navigates change at home and at school. Drawing parallels between Hazel and the misunderstood creatures she reads about in her beloved set of animal encyclopedias, Bigelow (Drum Roll, Please) celebrates intersectional diversity with her cast of well-drawn characters. Through a relatable first-person narrative, she also addresses universal conflicts adolescents face while paying tribute to their individuality. Ages 8–12.

October 1, 2019

Gr 5 Up-Bookish Hazel Maud Brownlee-Wellington is entering eighth grade with trepidation. Her best friend Becca is at another school, and Hazel is counting down the days until they can be reunited. Hazel thinks she can handle being alone until then, but can she? When Becca starts to make new friends, Hazel wonders if she will be left behind. Her home life has its own challenges, too. Her two moms are newly expecting, but Hazel worries since they have already had two miscarriages. She loves to care for the goats on her family's farm and suffers the nickname Goat Girl. She tries to work out her troubles by writing in her notebook, which she names "Brownlee-Wellington's Guide to Misunderstood Creatures." VERDICT Introspective Hazel feels that she is a misunderstood creature herself, and readers will find her sensitive, reflective nature heartening. Recommended.-Lisa Gieskes, Richland County Public Library, Columbia, SC

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Narrator Kathleen McInerney loses no time in transporting listeners into the complicated world of 13-year-old Hazel Brownlee-Wellington, who is navigating a momentous time in her life. Not only is she leaving her best friend due to school redistricting, but she also is facing the impending birth of a new sibling following two traumatic miscarriages. Also meriting her attention are goat keeping; two schoolmates, one transgender, the other a bully in a wheelchair; and Darwin's theory of evolution. McInerney has much on her plate as Hazel moves at a fast clip and wears every emotion on her sleeve. In addition, multiple supporting characters are given vocal variety: a sympathetic older brother, a perky health and human development teacher, a hesitant new friend, and two empathetic mothers. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Starred review from October 1, 2019
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* Redistricted to a new school for eighth grade, 13-year-old Hazel is counting on Becca, her longtime best friend, to stay connected with her. But after becoming a cheerleader, Becca seems increasingly distant, while Hazel feels abandoned, hurt, and adrift. A science geek and animal-lover, she doesn't intend to make friends at her new school, but she starts hanging out with Carina, a shy, trans girl, and their classmate Yosh, who's most noticeable for his neon-green mohawk and his wheelchair. Meanwhile, Hazel has learned that one of her mothers is pregnant again, after two previous miscarriages. Remembering those losses, Hazel finds it hard to react to the news with joy. This vivid first-person narrative revolves around the well-drawn main character as she slowly, reluctantly learns to cope with challenges and to enlarge her circle of friends. Her family home on a small goat farm has the charm of novelty, while the middle-school setting will be comfortably familiar and credible to most readers. The author of Drum Roll, Please (2018), Bigelow portrays many characters with empathy and skill, while slowly building toward a dramatic climax that draws different facets of the story together. A heartfelt novel of family, friends, and change.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)