You’d think it’d be easy to find books about electric powers and if I was focusing on YA I’m sure it would be. But here I’m focusing on books that I thought had a spark of something special, if there is an electricity pun, well, I’m all the more pleased. 😛

Each Tiny Spark

Synopsis

Emila Torres has trouble focusing, sometimes she doesn’t follow along in school or forgets what her mother or abuela asks her to do. However, what she can focus on is a time before her father’s deployment when her family was whole and made sense. She expects that life will go back to normal when her father comes home, but he comes home different, instead of spending time with his family he isolates himself and spends time working on cars instead.

Emila though keeps an eye on him and slowly they reconnect as he teaches her how to weld, soon she can see her old dad start to shine through, but as she is making progress with her dad, something happens that shakes her community, leaving her friends at the center of the conflict.

This book had just the right mix of dealing with serious things like mental health and PTSD, and reconnecting with family.

 

The Pokemon this book reminds me of is: Rotom

This playful Pokemon likes to get in different types of machines and I can just imagine it in Emila’s welding machine.

Lizzy and the Good Luck Girl

Synopsis

Lizzy and The Good Luck Girl was a lot of things, but first of all, it was cute, it had cats and friendship and luck and it was just a sweet read. 

Twelve-year-old Lizzy Sherman lives in the small town of East Thumb, Maine, upstairs from her family’s diner. She tries to keep her eye out for signs, things that will warn her of good or bad luck so she can have a problem-free existence.

She pays attention to everything from clouds in the sky to juice on the floor spilled in the shape of a heart. If she can figure out what theses signs mean, she’ll know what to do next and know how to keep herself and her family safe.

When Lizzy and her best friend Joss go search for a stray cat, they find a runaway girl instead. When Lizzy notices a tiny four-leaf clover tattooed on the girl’s hand, she knows it’s a sign.

She dreams up a plan to hide the girl in her bedroom closet convinced that the girl will be able to protect her family from tragedy. But signs aren’t always what they seem and the girl may have something more valuable to offer than luck. 

This book had just the right mix of luck, love and found family.

You can find my review of Lizzy and the Good Luck Girl here : Review: Lizzy and the Good Luck Girl

Amazon: Lizzy and the Good Luck Girl

The Pokemon this book reminds me of is: Tapu Koko

Just like Lizzy thinks the mysterious girl is going to bring luck to her. Tapu Koko is supposed to be lucky when seen.

The Science of Breakable Things

Synopsis

Natalie’s mother is suffering from depression, and Natalie is suffering too because she doesn’t know how to fix her mom. She has ideas as to why all of this has happened. Her mom is (was) a botanist and got fired, sending her into her depressive state.

Natalie is angry at her dad for trying to pretend everything is okay, and even though she doesn’t want to admit it, she’s angry at her mom, because she feels like she wasn’t good enough, and that if her mom loved her she wouldn’t be depressed.

All this is set against the backdrop of Natalie’s seventh-grade science class. Natalie’s science teacher wants them to find a research question. When Natalie struggles he suggests that she enter an egg drop competition. Natalie is reluctant at first but realizes there is prize money attached and that this might be the solution to fix her mom.

Her mom’s botany work focused on miraculous Cobalt Blue Orchids-–flowers that survive against impossible odds. The one they had at their house has died and Natalie is sure seeing the flowers will inspire her mom to want to be an active part of life again.

Natalie’s friend Twig is the first to sign onto the team, soon called Operation Egg, along with a new boy from India named Dari. With their help Natalie might just have a chance of winning the contest and helping her mom, but what happens when things fall apart like broken eggs?

Having friends around to pick up the piece help Natalie learns that talking about things can start her on a journey of healing and that with help. Her family might never put the pieces back the same way, but that they might slowly but surely begin to heal with or without the Cobalt Blue Orchid.

The book had that special spark of hope and Natalie’s found family is unforgettable.

You can find my review of  The Science of Breakable Things here: Review: The Science of Breakable Things

Amazon: The Science of Breakable Things

The Pokemon this book reminds me of is: Minun

This reminds me of Natalie because even though she is angry she is still trying to cheer up her mom and Minum is the cheering Pokemon.

Come back and join us for the final Pokemon Reads post!

Photo by Johannes Plenio from Pexels