The Science of Breakable Things

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

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. (Mar.)