Welcome to my stop for The Sea in Winter blog tour! This is a compensated post by The Children’s Book Review and HarperCollins Publishers, but as always, my opinions are completely my own.
The Sea in Winter by Christine Day
Review by Lauren
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Official Summary: It’s been a hard year for Maisie Cannon, ever since she hurt her leg and could not keep up with her ballet training and auditions.
Her blended family is loving and supportive, but Maisie knows that they just can’t understand how hopeless she feels. With everything she’s dealing with, Maisie is not excited for their family midwinter road trip along the coast, near the Makah community where her mother grew up.
But soon, Maisie’s anxieties and dark moods start to hurt as much as the pain in her knee. How can she keep pretending to be strong when on the inside she feels as roiling and cold as the ocean?
Review: The Sea in Winter is a beautifully written middle grade novel. I actually read the entire book in a day, and I will admit it had me tearing up in parts. It’s an emotional book but one that I think many should read, especially those in the target age group of 8-12 years old.
Reasons I Enjoyed The Sea in Winter:
- Family plays a large role in the book; Maisie has her mom, her stepdad, and her little brother, who are all very much there for her. I think the author did a good job at showing how family can be supportive, but that it’s not always easy to open up and connect.
- Maisie is dealing with an injury which has taken her away from ballet. I really felt the sadness and anger that Maisie had at not being able to do something that made up so much of her life (for example – her only friends came from ballet school). I loved seeing Maisie’s emotions throughout the book; it all felt realistic.
- We Need Diverse Books – this book is about a young Native American girl, and the history of her parents’ (and stepfathers’) communities were an important aspect of the book. I love this, both for other Native American children to see themselves in these pages, and for non-Native children to learn more about these communities. This is also an OwnVoices novel – aka the author is Native American too.
- How mental health is dealt with. Maisie is dealing with anxiety and depression throughout the book, though she doesn’t have the words for how she feels. I think mental health was handled really well and it showed that therapy and opening up is often important to healing and getting through the things that life throws at us.
- Overall, I loved the themes of community, of family, of finding passion in more than one thing.
Interested in the book? Check out the tour wide giveaway!!
Enter for a chance to win a set of two books by Christine Day, including The Sea in Winter.
One (1) grand prize winner receives:
A hardcover copy of The Sea in Winter by Christine Day
A hardcover copy of I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day
Four (4) winners receive:
A hardcover copy of The Sea in Winter by Christine Day
The giveaway begins January 5, 2021, at 12:01 A.M. MT and ends February 5, 2021, at 11:59 P.M. MT.
This sounds like a good book! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
This sounds like a powerful story and I love reading out loud to my kids!
The cover is so lovely.
Sounds like a wonderful story with a lot of real-life lessons. The cover is beautiful. And a lovely giveaway, too! Fab review, Lauren! 🙂
This book sounds so good, after reading Amari and the Night Brothers I’m looking for more middle-grade books to read! Love your review 🙂
This sounds like such an emotional MG story. I’ll have to recommend this one to my niece.
As you know, I absolutely love middle grade novels Lauren. There’s something so incredibly pure and joyous about them. I love the emotional and even though it’s a quick read, really packs a punch. Definitely going to grab a copy. beautiful review Lauren, really enjoyed it.
I like this topic and that more is being written and shared on it. Hard things happen to even kids. Thank you for sharing your review!
Oh wow, this truly does sound like a magical and beautifully written book. We definitely do need more Native American middle grade literature, and I also like the focus on family and the injury. Going to have to look into this one more!
Nice to see this was really good, and an OwnVoices Native American story too. Excellent!
It encourages me to know that good books are available for Middle grade readers!
How lovely does this sound? I feel like my cousin’s kid might enjoy this too!
Oh that’s such a really cute cover
This sounds like such a lovely read. I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
This sounds like exactly my kind of book. I just added it to my TBR!
The cover is beautiful. It sounds like a really good emotional story. I’ll have to recommend it to my middle school librarians.
Ohhh, I hope, I hope, I hope I win!! I would love to read this book with my granddaughter. Sounds very thought provoking and would provide us lots to talk about. Fingers crossed. Thank you for this opportunity.
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