Mixed up Author: Korman, Gordon | ||
Price: $23.08 |
Summary:
Twelve-year-olds Reef and Theo have a mutual problem: their memories are getting mixed up, and that means that Reef is losing his memory of his mother, recently dead of COVID, which terrifies him--but for Theo his new memories are helping him deal with his domineering father.
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Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (05/15/23)
Booklist (07/23/23)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 07/23/2023 Around an electrifying premise, Korman winds themes of grief, family dysfunction, and the ways memory shapes character to generate a powerful friendship tale. Middle-schoolers Reef and Theo don’t know one another initially, but that changes in a big way when they suddenly, mysteriously, begin acquiring each other's memories. Not only is this scary, not to mention confusing, but it’s devastating for Reef when he realizes that, along with forgetting everything he studied for a test and other such details, bit by bit he’s losing all he has left of his mom, who died from COVID-19. Theo has parental issues, too, but Reef’s whole life is in such a dark place from the outset that the story takes on a grim tone, only gradually lightened by events that climax in a wild lightning storm, allies (including a hilariously clever rabbit), and the growth of a connection that is, perforce, uniquely perceptive and expresses itself in acts of both kindness to others and a sense of mutual commitment. That relationship will leave readers touched and thoughtful. - Copyright 2023 Booklist.