The Science of Breakable Things is about Natalie, who’s mother suffers from depression but was once a botanist working on the miracle flower, the Cobalt Blue Orchids. Now, Natalie’s mother barely gets out of her room, and all Natalie wants is her life to be normal again, with everything laid out perfectly. So when her science teacher suggests she do an egg drop competition, and Natalie finds out there’s prize money, she starts to form a plan to fly her mother to the field where the orchids grow to remind her, to send a miracle to tell her to get on with studying the orchid, and to be a mother. It’ll all be perfect afterwards, but soon she realizes that change is something you have to accept, and that nobody’s perfect and that’s perfectly okay. I love, love, love this book! I would totally recommend it, and I hope you guys read/will read it! :D
The Science of Breakable Things
By Tae Keller
How do you grow a miracle?
For the record, this is not the question Mr. Neely is looking for when he says everyone in class must answer an important question using the scientific process. But Natalie's botanist mother is suffering from depression, so this is The Question that's important to Natalie. When Mr. Neely suggests that she enter an egg drop competition, Natalie has hope.
Eggs are breakable. Hope is not.
Natalie has a secret plan for the prize money. She's going to fly her mother to see the Cobalt Blue Orchids--flowers that survive against impossible odds. The magical flowers are sure to inspire her mother to love life again. As Natalie prepares for the competition, she will discover that talking about problems is like taking a plant out of a dark cupboard and giving it light.
An extraordinary debut about the coming-of-age moment when kids realize that parents are people, too. Think THE FOURTEENTH GOLDFISH meets THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH.
"A compassionate glimpse of mental illness accessible to a broad audience."
-- Kirkus Reviews , STARRED REVIEW
"Keller crafts a winning story full of heart and action."
-- Booklist , STARRED REVIEW
"Inspiring, emotional, and heartwarming."
--Melissa Savage, author of Lemons
Book Reviews (2)
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* 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.