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Review: Learning to Fall by Sally Engelfried

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Learning to Fall by Sally Engelfried

Learning to Fall
Sally Engelfried
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published September 6, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Learning to Fall

Twelve-year-old Daphne reconciles with her father, who left her stranded three years ago and learns forgiveness one fall at a time in this heartwarming debut by Sally Engelfried. For fans of The​ First Rule of Punk.

Daphne doesn’t want to be stuck in Oakland with her dad. She wants to get on the first plane to Prague, where her mom is shooting a movie. Armed with her grandparents’ phone number and strict instructions from her mom to call them if her dad starts drinking again, Daphne has no problem being cold to him. But there’s one thing Daphne can’t keep herself from joining her dad and her new friend Arlo at a weekly skate session.  When her dad promises to teach her how to ollie and she lands the trick, Daphne starts to believe in him again. He starts to show up for her, and Daphne learns things are not as black and white with her dad as she used to think. The way Daphne’s dad tells it, skating is all about accepting failure and moving on. But can Daphne really let go of her dad’s past mistakes? Either way life is a lot like it’s all about getting back up after you fall. 

My Review

I’ve been struggling a bit with reading lately, but you’d never know it if you watched me read this one. I read the entire story in a single sitting because I simply couldn’t stop.

Daphne has so many powerful experiences and is so easy to identify with. She quit skateboarding after an accident left her physically and emotionally bruised. Then, she has to move in with her dad, the person who got her interested in skating to begin with. She’s got a lot of doubts and bad feelings about him since he all but disappeared from her life for a few years. As she gets to know him again, she has to decide whether she can trust him. She also gains some new perspective on his disappearance, and sees her relationship with her mom in a new light, too.

This story expertly balances a young narrator and complex adult issues. Daphne’s dad is an alcoholic in recovery, and while he never drinks alcohol on-scene, he does get real with Daphne about his past struggles, how he feels in difficult moments, and his regrets. Daphne also realizes that her relationship with her mom, whom she idolizes, isn’t as simple as she once thought. Though it’s not the central point of the story, the narrative does an excellent job of showing how it feels to grapple with complex relationships and realize that people aren’t simply one thing or one way.

All in all, I loved this one both for its girl skater rep and its brave exploration of complex emotions and relationships. Give this one to fans of Gillian McDunn.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Daphne and her family are white. Her dad is an alcoholic in recovery. Daphne’s neighbors are Latino.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Daphne’s neighbor’s girlfriend and son move in with him.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Daphne recalls falling and getting hurt after some boys say cruel things to her. She hears a loud bang, and discovers that her dad threw something in the other room. He apologizes.

Drug Content
Daphne’s dad used to drink a lot of alcohol and talks frankly about mistakes he made while he was drinking, such as making promises he’d forget.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything but help support this blog. I received a free copy of LEARNING TO FALL in exchange for my honest review.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays. Check out other blogs posting about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle with Greg Pattridge.

Review: Between Monsters and Marvels by Alysa Wishingrad

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Between Monsters and Marvels
Alysa Wishingrad
HarperCollins
Published September 12, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Monsters and Marvels

In the next standalone high-stakes middle-grade fantasy by Alysa Wishingrad, the author of the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection The Verdigris Pawn, a misunderstood young girl named Dare is shipped to the mainland from her tiny island and uncovers startling secrets behind her father’s death, the island itself, and the monsters that lend its lore.

Monsters are still lurking on Barrow’s Bay.

Dare Coates is sure of it. No drifter or ruffian could have killed her father, the Captain of the Guard, while he was on patrol. But everyone insists that monsters have been gone for years now. Dare’s mother. Her classmates. Even the governor, who swiftly marries her mother just months after her father’s death.
Dare’s suspicions grow even stronger when the governor suddenly ships her off to the mainland, away from any hope of uncovering the truth about her father’s death.

Or so she thinks. But when Dare finds solid proof that monsters still exist she starts to question everything she’s always known. Was her father who she thought he was? Who can she trust? Where is the line between good and evil?

The truth hides behind danger and deception.

But with the help of an unlikely crew of cohorts and a stray beastie, nothing can stop Dare from finding out what happened to her father and exposing who the real monsters are.

My Review

This is the first book by Alysa Wishingrad that I’ve read. I’d heard of THE VERDIGRIS PAWN, and I think it was one of those books that I kept seeing other reviewers talking about, but I haven’t read it yet. The themes in this story about truth and deception and puzzling out who to trust in an unpredictable world drew me straight into this book.

I loved the way Dare wrestles with distrust and loneliness. Sometimes her loneliness pushes her to be open with someone, even if it’s simply to keep the conversation going and keep her loneliness at bay a little longer. She quickly learns that not everyone who appears friendly actually is, and some have dark motives hidden under layers of lies.

I liked the way the fantasy world of Barrows Bay and City-on-the-Pike came together. It’s a world of monsters, secrets, and illusions. Every time Dare thinks she has things figured out, she peels back a new layer and has to reevaluate based on what’s underneath.

I found her loneliness to be really easy to connect with. She is odd and something of an outcast, and that’s captured so well in the story. Anyone who has ever felt excluded by peers or as though they’re out of place in their own family will be able to connect with Dare. That loneliness also makes it a real celebration when Dare forges true friendships and sees the fruit of those connections in the story.

All in all, this is one I want for my family library. It’s whimsical and fun but also packed with a lot of heart. It’s an authentic story of friendship.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Major characters are white or white-passing.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Dare believes monsters with strange abilities still exist.

Violent Content
Reference to animal abuse (not shown on scene). Situations of peril. Some brief battle scenes. A brief description of Dare’s father’s death. She learns he was beheaded.

Drug Content
List.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of BETWEEN MONSTERS AND MARVELS in exchange for my honest review.