Ava Anderson is a normal girl. She has an extremely smart brother, a sister who adores name tags, a grandma who loves praying, a dad that's always thinking of world-famous stuff, and a mom.
Ava is good in math. She studies, and prepares, and remembers all the formulas. But when she brings a stubby blue pencil to school to answer her math test, she hears a voice that no one else hears. And the voice. . . tells her all the answers she needs!
When Ava shares this with Sophie, Ava's best friend, they start answering their classmates' answers, tell other people when the shoes they love will go on sale, and who has a crush on who. But little does Ava know that this stubby blue pencil can bring about great danger, in knowing the future. And because of that, Ava will have to face the fact that one of her family members has cancer, and another will die.
At first, I thought that All The Answers by Kate Messner wasn't a very good read since I think that Messner just thought of the sentence, "What if your pencil had all the answers?". I'm just saying that she could have gone deeper into that, like "What if a bunny had a magic pencil that was as big as a car?". I do have to say that the story has a "Fairly-Odd Parents" kind of vibe, but even if the story's like that, middle schoolers will love this because of the highs and lows in Ava's life, which will they be able to relate to. It also tells middle schoolers that they aren't alone in what they go through, so there isn't any reason to be too stressed out. Studying can be hard, parents can fight, friends can get mad, but that doesn't mean that there isn't anything good about it.
If you always always read books that include adventures in other dimensions, or wizards, princesses, and kids with super powers, and want to take a break from all that thrill and danger, I can say that All the Answers by Kate Messner will be the perfect fit, especially if you're in middle school.
Rating: O O O O O
Suggested Age of Readers: 8+
Genre/s: Fantasy, Magical Realism, Fiction, Family
*Book Review
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About the Author
Kate Messner
Kate Messner is an award-winning author, TED 2012 speaker, and former middle school English teacher. Her books for kids include THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z.,SUGAR AND ICE, and EYE OF THE STORM (Walker/Bloomsbury Dec. 2010) the MARTY MCGUIRE series (Scholastic), SEA MONSTER'S FIRST DAY, and OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW (Chronicle, Books). Kate also wrote SPITFIRE and CHAMPLAIN AND THE SILENT ONE, both Lake Champlain historical novels published by North Country Books.
Kate lives with her family on Lake Champlain, where she loves to read, write, hike, swing on birch trees, and eat chocolate. She also hangs out in various places online.
Kate Messner photo from Google Images
All The Answers book cover photo from www.goodreads.com
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