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A review by phyrre
If We Were Giants by Clete Barrett Smith, Dave Matthews
4.0
You can read my full review on my blog, The Bookwyrm's Den, here.
Many thanks to RockStar Book Tour and Disney-Hyperion for a finished copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
When I saw this was co-written by Dave Matthews, I figured it was a Dave Matthews, not the Dave Matthews. It’s not often that I’m happy to be wrong, but this was definitely one of those times.
If We Were Giants is a gorgeous coming-of-age tale of a young girl with PTSD who learns to overcome her fear of the past to embrace the possibility of a new future. Guaranteed to unravel a few heartstrings along the way.
I was honestly expecting a little more action going into this, and there was some, but where the book really shines is the struggle and growth in the characters. The message of the story was every bit as beautiful as the world that Matthews and Smith paint. I for sure wouldn’t mind a visit there.
My Thoughts:
- The story opens on Kirra’s father, a storyteller, and Kirra learning to follow in his footsteps, and the narrative unfolds as Kirra finds the strength to tell her own story. This was such a freaking powerful thing. I’ve always been a fan of this sort of structure, especially since when you come from a broken background, telling your story is freaking hard. It takes courage and strength and all sorts of things that are difficult to discover in yourself, and Kirra is no exception. This is definitely more of a character-driven book, and the plot sometimes feels absent or takes a back seat to the character growth. I do like how the arc turned out in the end. It was a bit slow in some places getting there, but the ride was worth it, and there was a definite payoff.
- This story is chock full of amazing kids doing amazing things … but most of all, being able to dream big. Middle grade is rife with books where kids save the day, as you might expect, and this is no exception. But gosh was it so easy to root for these kids. What I loved about this is that these kids don’t have superpowers or magic or anything like that. So what do they use to save their people? Their brains. What an amazing thing. Even more than that, the kids end up being empowered to just do the things they love, and once they embrace that, the saving the day part becomes so much easier.
- In this, Kirra suffers from PTSD and panic attacks, and I thought this was handled in a very thoughtful manner. Mostly, Kirra practices avoidance, staying away from what she calls Memory Traps—things that evoke a strong reminder of her family or anything that happened previously. When she can’t avoid the Memory Traps, though, she has a major panic attack. While I have experience with neither, so I can’t really comment on how true they are to real life, I appreciated the recognition of Kirra’s trauma and her familiar avoidance patterns.
- There are so many poignant lessons in this that can bridge into some really important discussions with middle-grade readers. I would even suggest it’d make for a good classroom or group read, to launch into some discussion points. The lessons in it are fairly universal, too. As I was reading, it was just so easy to see where some amazing discussions could be had, and I was actually curious about a mid-grader’s point of view on some of the events.
Sticking Points:
- This is totally a me thing, but ugh, open endings in standalones drive me bonkers. I’m a nosy little onion who wants to know what happens next, dang it. I want a clean break, especially with a standalone, since I know this will be the one and only time I get to fall into this world, and I don’t want that incessant niggling of, well, what’s next? There is no next. That’s it. You have to fill in the rest of the blanks yourself. Some people love open endings, and if you do, this ending will work really well for you, because the implications were amazing and there’s so much that can be done with them. It’s just really not my thing.
Many thanks to RockStar Book Tour and Disney-Hyperion for a finished copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
When I saw this was co-written by Dave Matthews, I figured it was a Dave Matthews, not the Dave Matthews. It’s not often that I’m happy to be wrong, but this was definitely one of those times.
If We Were Giants is a gorgeous coming-of-age tale of a young girl with PTSD who learns to overcome her fear of the past to embrace the possibility of a new future. Guaranteed to unravel a few heartstrings along the way.
I was honestly expecting a little more action going into this, and there was some, but where the book really shines is the struggle and growth in the characters. The message of the story was every bit as beautiful as the world that Matthews and Smith paint. I for sure wouldn’t mind a visit there.
My Thoughts:
- The story opens on Kirra’s father, a storyteller, and Kirra learning to follow in his footsteps, and the narrative unfolds as Kirra finds the strength to tell her own story. This was such a freaking powerful thing. I’ve always been a fan of this sort of structure, especially since when you come from a broken background, telling your story is freaking hard. It takes courage and strength and all sorts of things that are difficult to discover in yourself, and Kirra is no exception. This is definitely more of a character-driven book, and the plot sometimes feels absent or takes a back seat to the character growth. I do like how the arc turned out in the end. It was a bit slow in some places getting there, but the ride was worth it, and there was a definite payoff.
- This story is chock full of amazing kids doing amazing things … but most of all, being able to dream big. Middle grade is rife with books where kids save the day, as you might expect, and this is no exception. But gosh was it so easy to root for these kids. What I loved about this is that these kids don’t have superpowers or magic or anything like that. So what do they use to save their people? Their brains. What an amazing thing. Even more than that, the kids end up being empowered to just do the things they love, and once they embrace that, the saving the day part becomes so much easier.
- In this, Kirra suffers from PTSD and panic attacks, and I thought this was handled in a very thoughtful manner. Mostly, Kirra practices avoidance, staying away from what she calls Memory Traps—things that evoke a strong reminder of her family or anything that happened previously. When she can’t avoid the Memory Traps, though, she has a major panic attack. While I have experience with neither, so I can’t really comment on how true they are to real life, I appreciated the recognition of Kirra’s trauma and her familiar avoidance patterns.
- There are so many poignant lessons in this that can bridge into some really important discussions with middle-grade readers. I would even suggest it’d make for a good classroom or group read, to launch into some discussion points. The lessons in it are fairly universal, too. As I was reading, it was just so easy to see where some amazing discussions could be had, and I was actually curious about a mid-grader’s point of view on some of the events.
Sticking Points:
- This is totally a me thing, but ugh, open endings in standalones drive me bonkers. I’m a nosy little onion who wants to know what happens next, dang it. I want a clean break, especially with a standalone, since I know this will be the one and only time I get to fall into this world, and I don’t want that incessant niggling of, well, what’s next? There is no next. That’s it. You have to fill in the rest of the blanks yourself. Some people love open endings, and if you do, this ending will work really well for you, because the implications were amazing and there’s so much that can be done with them. It’s just really not my thing.