By Lindsay Lackey

Published 2019

AR: not yet assessed

I suggest 4th through 8th grade.

All the Impossible Things is a book to savor. Honestly, when Katherine Applegate (One and Only Ivan, Crenshaw, etc.) endorses anything, I’m probably going to read it.

I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak at this book (it releases September 3, 2019). Of course, we only post books we LOVE on Kid List, so I always get a little nervous about whether I will enjoy something.

I shouldn’t have worried. Red’s story about her foster situation will make you love her dearly. But her arrival at the petting zoo, and the couple that takes her in, goes above and beyond to warm your heart, break your heart, and put you back together again. In addition to the animal antics that will have you chuckling, you’ll love Red’s energetic new human friend, Marcus, who keeps readers smiling.

So pick this one up and get going! I suggest a true middle-grade audience for this story, because it asks kids to learn and experience some of the tougher aspects that come with a parent who is struggling with addiction. However, Red’s wind will be something with which any kid can relate–the power, the fear, and the playfulness that lives in us all.

Description posted on B&N:

Red’s inexplicable power over the wind comes from her mother. Whenever Ruby “Red” Byrd is scared or angry, the wind picks up. And being placed in foster care, moving from family to family, tends to keep her skies stormy. Red knows she has to learn to control it, but can’t figure out how.

This time, the wind blows Red into the home of the Grooves, a quirky couple who run a petting zoo, complete with a dancing donkey and a giant tortoise. With their own curious gifts, Celine and Jackson Groove seem to fit like a puzzle piece into Red’s heart.

But just when Red starts to settle into her new life, a fresh storm rolls in, one she knows all too well: her mother. For so long, Red has longed to have her mom back in her life, and she’s quickly swept up in the vortex of her mother’s chaos. Now Red must discover the possible in the impossible if she wants to overcome her own tornadoes and find the family she needs.