Publication Date: 12th September 2023
Genre: Middle Grade, LGBTQ+, Magic Realism
4.2 Stars
One Liner: Heartwarming (but the writing style is not for everyone)
Annie’s moms own a beautiful bookstore and live in the apartment above. Moms, Annie, and her older sister Charlotte are a perfect family. But every family has issues, especially when they have worries about finances, identity, and a touch of erratic magic.
The Birch Books bookshop selects a few books for readers every day. However, the yellow and purple-covered book is not taken by anyone. How can that be possible? As days go on and the lonely book has no takers, the bookshop becomes anxious and distressed. It affects Annie, our darling narrator. Can she and her family find the person and unite them with the lonely book? And why is Charlotte so angry?
The story comes from Annie’s first-person POV.
My Thoughts:
The book has four main characters, Mum, Mama, Charlotte (a sixteen-year-old), and Annie, the youngest in the family. They love each other and love the bookshop just as much. Everything seems okay, but things happen and can be sorted too.
The story comes in verse though I wouldn’t call it poetry. It’s prose poetry at the most, with multiple repetitions. The best way to enjoy the book is to read it in Annie’s voice, the way it is meant to be read. Think of a little girl (possibly around 8) with a kind heart, open mind, and a gentle soul. She loves to talk and emphasize her points through repetition.
It takes a while to get used to the narrative style. But once you’re familiar with it, the flow is smoother and faster. Don’t look for meters or rhymes. Find your rhythm and flow with it. Also, try to read it in a single sitting. A break means you may have to get used to the style yet again.
The story, as such, is beautiful, warm, and heart-touching. It deals with a few topics, but the primary focus is on understanding gender identities and coming out. It also deals with selective mutism and the positive ways to handle the issue. The story oozes love and bonding while showing how anxiety, worries, and stress co-exist with love (even when the love is healthy).
The core theme of non-binary gender identity is introduced halfway through the book. It is presented in the most simplified format, making it easy for kids to understand. Annie represents the young minds that want to learn new things but can feel overwhelmed by excess information.
Sensitive topics are handled with care and a good dose of positivity. It’s the kind that fills kids with gentle confidence to face life’s challenges their way. Naturally, the book has characters more open and accepting towards queer identities. But that’s necessary too.
I like how the bookshop is a tangible being with emotions and expresses it by throwing books off the shelves, ringing the bell, messing with the cash machine, etc. While this magic is not explained, it aligns with Annie’s anxiety, making it easy to relate to the emotions. In a way, you could say that the bookshop expresses the feelings of its owners (all four of them). It is happy when they are happy and agitated when they are stressed.
The book doesn’t have illustrations. At least the ARC doesn’t (and no, the chapter titles don’t count). This is disappointing as I expected at least a handful of illustrations of the bookshop, the main characters, their home, Annie’s room, etc.
To summarize, The Lonely Book is a sweet book dealing with some important topics with a positive intent. If you want to talk about gender identity, anxiety, selective mutism, and Sapphic parents, this is for you.
Don’t skip the author’s interview at the end. It is informative and explains a few things from the book (not the magic, though).
Thank you, NetGalley and Little Island Books, for the eARC.
#NetGalley #TheLonelyBook
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P.S.: I’m not sure how this would work on Kindle, though the formatting isn’t complex. I read it on my desktop, which was easier on the eyes. The paperback would be most convenient for the target age group.
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