Dear Isaac Newton, You're Ruining My Life by Rachel Hruza

This heartrending book will give kids a beacon of hope that anyone can survive middle school, and one can even do it while being true to oneself. She in turn takes this frustration and establishes a running discourse of complaints to Isaac Newton, whom she knows is not the reason for gravity worsening her scoliosis, but seems to be a good person to voice her complaints to.

Add to that Oliver, the boy in a wheelchair her family has enlisted to befriend her, and Jenny, Truth's sworn enemy, and Truth is overwhelmed with confusion about who she can trust and how to be herself. But when she starts to befriend her crush and help him with his own secret problem, Megan starts to become less of a friend and more of a frenemy. When Truth learns that she needs to start wearing a brace to help stop the progression of her scoliosis, she vows to keep it secret from everyone but her family and best friend Megan. Overall: A charming #OwnVoices tale of middle school woe, where a back brace leads to some self discovery.ĪRC received in exchange for an honest review.īLOG | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN | FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS She matured in her understanding of the world and herself. Pro: Truth grew quite a bit over the course of this story, and realized that the things she thought were important really weren't.Pro: BUT, I did like the way Hruza resolved the situation.

Con: There was some friction between Truth and another girl that escalated a little bit.

These every day worries combined with Truth's health concerns painted a complete picture of Truth for us.

Pro: Hruza did a good job incorporated many of the normal issues school aged children experience.

Con: In fact, I loved Oliver so much, I wish he had been given more page time.

I liked that he was included, because it allowed Truth to have some perspective on her situation, and besides that, I absolutely loved him! Truth's parent were quite wonderful, as were some of her teachers, and the doctor who made her brace.

Pro: There were a lot of positive adults in this story.

I think a lot of people would be able to related to her insecurities and her struggles.

Pro: I found Truth to be very thoughtful, and I appreciated her inner struggles with who she thought she was and who she thought she was becoming.

Truth had to not only deal with growing up, boys, and complicated friendships, but she had to deal with a physical deformity that was possibly irreparable.

It's such an in-between age, with the kids experiencing so many of those 'growing up' changes. I used to be a teacher, and we always talked about how tough middle school is.

Dear Isaac Newton, You're Ruining My Life by Rachel Hruza