The Science of Breakable Things

January 1, 2018

Gr 4-6-Seventh-grader Natalie is sometimes annoyed, but oftentimes amused by her enthusiastic science teacher, Mr. Neely, who encourages his students to ask questions and use the scientific method to solve problems. This is all well and good for Natalie, but the only question the tween is interested in lately is why has her mother has stopped caring about her and why she cannot seem to get out of bed. Her mother is a botanist who discovered a rare cobalt blue orchid, a miracle of a flower that survives in a toxic environment in New Mexico. So Natalie is somewhat ambivalent when Mr. Neely encourages her to enter an "egg drop contest"-not exactly her top priority-until she hears about the substantial prize money. Natalie is determined to win so that she can replace the now-dead orchid and give her mother the joy she needs. As she tries to navigate the problem of keeping the fragile egg safe during a fall, she begins to feel the cracks in her own life as her mother's depression affects her more deeply. Natalie's reluctance to acknowledge her own feelings and ask painful questions keeps her from really engaging with her friends and fellow "egg drop" teammates. Natalie learns that, as with the egg, people, too, are fragile and need support and padding to break their falls. VERDICT An emotional story that explores parental depression with realism and empathy.-Patricia Feriano, Montgomery County Public Schools, MD

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 15, 2017
A middle school story in which parental depression manifests itself in absence.Natalie's vivacious botanist mother (who's white) has retreated from life, leaving her therapist husband (who's biracial) and daughter to fill the gaping hole she has left. With the help of an egg-drop contest and a scientific-method project, Natalie explores breakable things and the nurturing of hope. Narrating in first-person, the mixed-race seventh-grader (1/4 Korean and 3/4 white) is drawn to her mother's book, titled How to Grow A Miracle. It reminds her of when her mother was excited by science and questions and life. With a STEM-inspired chapter framework and illustrated with Neonakis' scientific drawings, Keller's debut novel uses the scientific method to unpack the complex emotions depression can cause. Momentum builds over nine months as Natalie observes, questions, researches, experiments, and analyzes clues to her mother's state of mind. Providing support and some comic relief are her two sidekicks, Dari (a smart Indian immigrant boy) and Twig (Natalie's wealthy, white best friend). The diversity of the characters provides identity and interest, not issue or plotline. Tension peaks at the egg-drop contest, as the three friends plan to use the prize winnings to bring Natalie's mother back to life with a gift of a rare cobalt blue orchid. Paralleling their scientific progress, Natalie reluctantly experiences her first visits to talk therapy, slowly opening like a tight bloom.A compassionate glimpse of mental illness accessible to a broad audience. (Fiction. 10-14)

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January 8, 2018
Natalie Napoli’s seventh-grade science class is working on a yearlong experiment, recording their findings in “Wonderings journals.” The text of Natalie’s journal comprises Keller’s moving debut novel. Natalie used to like science and spent much of her childhood in her botanist mother’s laboratory. But her mother, suffering from severe depression, has barely left her bedroom in months. Natalie and her best friend Twig collaborate with new student Dari to win an egg drop contest for their experiment, and Natalie imagines using the prize money to fly with her mother to New Mexico, home to a striking cobalt blue orchid, born out of a toxic chemical spill, that her mother had been studying. Natalie’s Korean heritage is sensitively explored, as is the central issue of depression and its impact; Keller draws thoughtful parallels between Natalie’s mother’s struggles and the fragility of orchids and eggs. Natalie’s fraught relationship with her mother, and her friendships with Twig and Dari, are the heart of the book, but science is its soul. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary.

Starred review from December 15, 2017
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* For fans of The Thing about Jellyfish (2015) comes a clever debut combining science with a tough topic. Natalie's hashtag-loving seventh-grade science teacher, Mr. Neely, encourages his students to tackle long-term projects using the scientific method, which is how Natalie and her BFF Twig enter the classic egg-drop contest. But Natalie is also undertaking a more personal science experiment, trying to bring her botanist mother out of depression. She's convinced the $500 prize for Operation Egg will provide the funds to fly Mom to New Mexico to see the Cobalt Blue Orchid, a flower that thrives in the harshest conditions, and everything will go back to normal again. Along with a plot that includes several experiments and diagrams, Keller crafts a winning story full of heart and action that balances the weighty subject of a child dealing with a parent's depression. Natalie is a well-rounded, complex character whose two parents, in a rarity for middle-grade fiction, have story arcs all their own. Part Korean on her father's side, Natalie yearns for a deeper connection to her Korean heritage. Aside from the obvious connection to STEM, Keller's layered, accessible story has offers beautifully crafted metaphors, a theme of mending old friendships and creating new ones, and an empowering teacher to a variety of readers. A moving story about fragility and rebirth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

dory13 - * Few Spoilers * I read The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller a little while ago. I believe this book is about a girl named Natelie whose mom is deeply depressed. She needs to figure out how to help her mom deal with her depression. I feel I have a good connection with this book. I feel this way, because we both have good friends and not so good friends. This makes me feel that I can relate to her and her life. for example Natlie’s best friend,Twig. She is super loving, kind, and will always stand by Natalie. I have a good friend, her name is Zoey. She is also loving, kind, and will always stand by Me : ). I loved the book because it was so well written, by so well I mean it was interesting, creative, and surprising. An example is when they are participating in an egg drop competition. You feel like you're going to win, but they don’t. I love that the author put in a twist, It keeps the story exciting and crazy. During the time that I read this book, I learned not to take things for granted. She has it so much harder than me or other people. Her mom is depressed, her dad is sending her to therapy, ( she doesn’t want to go to therapy. ) and she has this half- friend that doesn’t really talk to her. My mom isn't depressed, I don’t need to go to therapy, and I have pretty good friends. When you think somethings hard, remember Natalie. Natalie had many hard things in her path, but she didn’t let them get in the way of what she wanted to do. She put them behind her and carried forth in her life. Natalie is the main character in the book. At the beginning of this book she had mixed emotions, Happy, sad, confused, and angry. She started out disliking her mother because she let an Orchid die, that Natiele thought she should have taken better care of. It was something they loved, and when it died Natelie was angry. She liked science class because her teacher is Mr. Neely, he is a funny person. ( Like my teacher Mr. Holt. ) He encouraged Natelie through everything that she faced. She loved Twig, who always stood by her, and had ideas that pushed Natelie to think in new ways. Her life was all over the place. There’s two emotions I feel that she had throughout most of the story, anger and determination. For example, for anger she was mad at her mom for being depressed and her dad for sending her to therapy. For determination, she was doing an egg drop competition and she was on top of that. Thinking of ideas, supplies, and trying very hard. In the middle of the story I feel her anger level went down, because she was focusing most or all of her energy on the egg drop competition. Now she had a sliver of joy or happiness replacing that anger. Natelie, Twig, and Dari (rhymes with dory) were still super committed. They were hanging out together more and more and giving each other titles. Natiele’s is Team captain, Twig is the Head sheriff, and Dari is the mission analyst. At the end of the story I feel like Natelie had two new main emotions. Determination and love. For determination and example would be, Natelie, Twig, and Dari went into the school, ( They shouldn’t have been there. ) and even though this was risky they were determined to find what they came for, a Cobalt Blue Orchid seed. For Love, at the end Natelie’s mom and her bond, over mistakes. They become one big happy family.