The power of sharing a book with a child is such a wonderful gift (and I'm thankful we are now into reading books with more complex themes). Move over Junie B.!
Yes, this book is about Fuzzy Mud, and by that I mean, mud that is fuzzy-- and toxic. Two kids taking a shortcut home from school (Tamaya and Marshall) in an attempt to avoid getting beat up by the bully (Chad) and in the process, get exposed to fuzzy mud.
They got lost.
The world got scared.
And the mud got fuzzy.
The second storyline in the book is what appears to be the court case on a toxin that was exposed into the air and polluted the forest. This toxin has contaminated the three kids. The toxin has the reader (a.k.a. me!) worried about the lives of the children.
What I'm loving the most about this book is the characters and relationship building that is unveiled from this unfortunate, suspenseful experience. We learn about the bully and his homelife (don't all bullies "bully" because they have low self-esteem?). We learn about one misunderstanding which leads to a downward spiral, which has affected the victim (Marshall)--in this case- for years--causing him to hate school every.single.day.
Did I mention yet that I don't want my daughter to leave the safety of her elementary building for the vast and scary world of middle school with hormonal adolescents?!?!? Ha! Really, I'm only half kidding.
What I predict from the remaining chapters of this book is the answer to the scientific mishap and the outcome this mishap has given for the children and the community.
My daughter asked me tonight what genre I would classify this book. At first, I hesitated to say realistic fiction due to the toxic spores causing the community to get infected, but then I replied, "gosh, this really could be realistic fiction." I'm unfortunately thinking it's likely more of a reality than a fantasy in our global, often toxic, world.
What do you think?
Until next week!
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