Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Savvy
    Unavailable
    Savvy
    Unavailable
    Savvy
    Audiobook6 hours

    Savvy

    Written by Ingrid Law

    Narrated by Lily Blau

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    For generations, the Beaumont family has harbored a magical secret. They each possess a "savvy" -a special supernatural power that strikes when they turn thirteen. Grandpa Bomba moves mountains, her older brothers create hurricanes and spark electricity . . . and now it's the eve of Mibs's big day.

    As if waiting weren't hard enough, the family gets scary news two days before Mibs's birthday: Poppa has been in a terrible accident. Mibs develops the singular mission to get to the hospital and prove that her new power can save her dad. So she sneaks onto a salesman's bus . . . only to find the bus heading in the opposite direction. Suddenly Mibs finds herself on an unforgettable odyssey that will force her to make sense of growing up-and of other people, who might also have a few secrets hidden just beneath the skin.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 1, 2008
    ISBN9781436265508
    Unavailable
    Savvy

    Related to Savvy

    Related audiobooks

    Children's Fantasy & Magic For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Story For Our Times

      Dec 29, 2021

      ROBINSON CRUSOE is a lockdown story, as are most Golden Age detective novels, set in remote country houses: Jane Eyre and Rogue Male, but Stella Gibbons, wrote the lockdown story for our age. Born in 1902, she was the eldest of three children whose f

      2 min read

    • Article

      Children & Young Adult

      Dec 1, 2021

      When Lars polar bear meets reindeer Oliver, who has lost his mother, they pair up and their different skills help them in scary situations. Wolves are afraid of polar bears and fluffy musk ox let them bed down between their hides for warmth. Lilting

      2 min read

    • Article

      Sterner Stuff

      Feb 24, 2022

      Sterner Stuff
      5 min read

    • Article

      WIN! Encanto PRIZE PACKS!

      Dec 2, 2021

      Disney's Encanto tells the tale of an extraordinary family, the Madrigals, who live in a magical house, in a vibrant town, in a wondrous, charmed place called Encanto. The magic of Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift from

      1 min read

    • Article

      Fiction

      Jun 9, 2023

      Fiction
      3 min read

    • Article

      THE Warm FUZZIES

      Jun 23, 2021

      Bringing smiles to people around the world, Californian man Jim Preston spells out words of wisdom on his front lawn… in rubber duckies! The small yellow ducks are neatly lined up before Jim snaps a picture and uploads it online hoping to brighten so

      1 min read

    • Article

      Reading Room Children & Young Adult

      Dec 1, 2021

      Reading Room Children & Young Adult
      2 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Oct 12, 2023

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      THE room Reading

      Feb 24, 2021

      THE room Reading
      3 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Oct 5, 2023

      Edenglassie was the name of the penal colony that ultimately became Brisbane and this is the setting for a haunting new epic novel by one of our finest storytellers. It’s 2024 and Granny Eddie has tripped over on a tree root outside Brisbane’s mariti

      7 min read

    • Article

      Ruthless Innocence

      Jul 8, 2022

      Ruthless Innocence
      3 min read

    • Article

      Books Of The Month

      May 5, 2023

      By Alex Latimer The Fruits and the Vegetables are long-standing enemies – until secret friends Grape and Mushroom set off on a pilgrimage to the Wise Old Cheese. Can they find a way to bring peace to fruit bowl and veg drawer alike? A riot of verbal

      2 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Jan 4, 2024

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Don’t Miss!

      Feb 27, 2022

      Based on the Tiger King story that gripped the world, this limited series tells the story of the fierce rivalry between Carole Baskin (Kate McKinnon) and Joe Exotic (John Cameron Mitchell), and their two Big Cat businesses. FRI. ON STAN Set in 1

      1 min read

    • Article

      Best Books

      Aug 31, 2021

      Best Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      May 24, 2023

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Tabloid Money… It’s Time To Scrap The Monarchy Here, Too

      Dec 10, 2021

      • It will be interesting to see how the BBC’s new drama, A Very British Scandal, transforms Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, from a “scandal-bucket brimming with bad manners and rich white privilege” into a “feminist icon for our times”, says Jan Moir in

      1 min read

    • Article

      Out Now! Home Entertainment

      Nov 7, 2019

      The live-action remake of one of Disney's most beautiful stories is now available to take home. Simba, the future king, has been born but not everyone celebrates the new cub's arrival. Scar, Simba's uncle - and former heir to the throne - has plans o

      1 min read

    • Article

      Perfect Little Thug

      Feb 16, 2023

      Perfect Little Thug
      2 min read

    • Article

      Facing A New Kind Of WAR

      Apr 21, 2020

      You’ve got to feel sorry for Damian Hurley, Liz’s privileged son and potential stunt double. Damian celebrated his 18th birthday in the first weeks of lockdown. Shacking up with his mum, grandmother and his mum’s mate, who are all self-isolating in

      1 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading

      Dec 27, 2020

      Summer Reading
      6 min read

    • Article

      Space Is The Place

      Sep 1, 2023

      Space Is The Place
      12 min read

    • Article

      What Women Do Best

      Mar 5, 2024

      The Chain by Chimene Suleyman In 2017, acclaimed writer Chimene Suleyman was pregnant. She did not want an abortion nor did she feel ready to become a mother; her loving boyfriend was dealing with his own mother dying. But on a snowy day in New

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Growing Stillness Of Home, But Then Maya Came Along

      Jun 2, 2019

      I had been looking forward to the quiet. The house in which we raised six children was finally empty, save for a stray Millennial or two. The SpongeBob SquarePants toys had gone to charity, the Barbie Dream House was gathering dust in the attic and t

      2 min read

    • Article

      Storytime

      Mar 22, 2023

      It is the Fat Tuesday Night Feast and the refectory at the convent is ablaze with candles. The upstanding guests arrive in carriages plump with cushions from their fine palazzos to make merry before the Forty Day Fast. Sister Librarian Beatrice is la

      2 min read

    Reviews for Savvy

    4/5

    846 ratings126 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Mibs is ready to celebrate her 13th birthday when her father is in a serious car accident, which puts him in the hospital in a coma. As her mother and oldest brother travel the ninety miles to the hospital, Mibs must suffer through a horrible party put on by the self-righteous preacher's wife and attended by kids who think she and her family are a bunch of weirdos. See, something happens to the Beaumont children when they hit 13: their savvy comes into its own and they find out what sort of special and particular-to-each-person powers they inherit. As Mibs struggles to define her new powers, she, her two other brothers, and the two preacher's children (one of whom has a crush on Mibs) stow away on a bible seller's bus to try to get to the hospital and end up on a wild adventure of their own.A neat story. The characters are great and the ending is a nice little twist.
    • 4/5
      interesting story about a family with powers that are discovered at the age of 13. after their father is a horrific car accident, mibs thinks her savvy can save him. stowing away on the pink bible salesman's bus, mibs and her companions take on adventures, challenges and excitement as they try and reach her father.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book for a few reasons. The first reason I loved this book was for its integration of magic into a story that did not need it to make the book powerful. The book followed a girl names Mibs and her younger siblings on a journey to the hospital where her father was at after being in a horrible accident. This idea and story alone, especially when you pair it with the strange and wacky events that occurred during the journey, was enough to catch my interest, however with the addition of Mibs gaining a power called a savvy on her 13th birthday and her dealing with her first year with it made the book more magical and exciting to read than the other potential story alone. This integration of magic made going back to read the book a priority to me because I wanted to see what else her savvy would bring about for her. The second reason I liked this book was for the use of a female main character. The majority of the chapter books I have read for this assignment have had male main character and this chapter book provided me with a main character of a different gender with Mibs. I liked this aspect of the book because it gave me a very different point of view in terms of what the character paid attention to and cared about. As a male myself, I often find myself relating to a male main character too much, making the reading boring and predictable, but this book, and its main character, put a spin on the plot and allowed me to see more of what a girl would pay attention to. Overall, the big idea of this book was that every person is special and has a talent that the use throughout their life. This is seen when Mibs is telling her father that although he does not have a savvy per say, his choice to never give up, no matter what, was defined to be his savvy.
    • 5/5
      Mibs has finally turned 13 and is dying to know her savvy. her brother Fish has his, which is controlling weather, and her younger brother Samson still doesn't know his yet. And on the morning of the day when she turned thirteen, Samson's dead turtle wakes up which brings Mibs to a conclusion. Her savvy must be waking things up. Her father at the time was severely hurt in a car crash and he wouldn't wake up so she needed to get to him and wake him up. But her mother had left with Fish and left to see her father in the hospital miles away so she couldn't get to him but she had to get to her father somehow so when she went to church she found a old bus that said that it was headed to the same area that her father was in so she went into the bus but when the bus driver got into the bus and was leaving he turned the wrong way! And that his how she went on a journey of a lifetime and met lots of new friends.I liked this book because it was super suspensful and kept me reading it. I also liked this book because in the beginning of the book the book didn't really say what a savvy was and you had to keep reading to find out.
    • 3/5
      Savvy features Mibs Beaumont and her family, who have unique abilities called savvies, which they come into on their thirteenth birthday. Mibs' mother has a savvy for doing things right, her brothers can disrupt electricity and cause hurricanes, and her grandfather can stretch land. It is two days before Mibs' thirteenth birthday and she can't wait for her savvy to arrive - but then her father is in a horrible accident, and her previous concerns seem irrelevant.Law is a good writer with her whimsical turns of phrase and her well drawn characters. Although the book takes place over the span of less than a week, Mibs learns a lot - that people's outward actions and how they feel inside can be very different, that some people don't want to be helped, that bad things happen for a good reason sometimes. She also makes friends and bonds with her family even more.This book is aimed at a middle-grade audience and although it was good, I found it a bit simplistic. I don't think this this is only because it's a middle grade - I recently read and loved Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians (Alcatraz, No. 1), another kids' book with a first person perspective about people with strange powers, but that was by Brandon Sanderson and had a very self aware protagonist and a clever worldwide conspiracy. Savvy is a gentler, more personal book about a girl starting to grow up.I would definitely recommend Savvy for young readers, but I won't be prioritising reading the sequel.
    • 5/5
      Ingrid Law is another author who visited our school the year that her book received a Newbery Honor Medal. In this first of three books in the series, Mibs Beaumont is about to turn 13 and discover what her "savvy" might be... She comes from a family with powerful savvies. Her grandfather can move the earth; her brother, Fish, can control the weather; another brother, Rocket, can create electricity. Just before her birthday, her father is in a terrible accident. All Mibs wants to do now, is find a savvy that can cure her dad. Along the way, she meets an unusual group of characters and hitches a wild ride to the hospital on a pink bus! Mibs struggles with the things that many preteens struggle with... self esteem and family relationships. Law's style of writing is engaging, using wonderful descriptions, yet moving the plot along--suspenseful chapter endings that keep you reading. I recommend this book to better third grade readers through fifth grade. I think that this is the best book of the series, but recommend the others to avid Savvy lovers. This book is a great read for a discussion about an individual's gifts and finding yourself.
    • 2/5
      This is one of those books that you really WANT to like but...you don't.

      The good points: the set up is quite unique - the idea that a "talent," or, as the Beaumonts call it, a "know-how" appears on their thirteenth birthdays, leading to mishap and mayhem, and more importantly the way it brings the family together. Oddly, I really enjoyed the adult characters - Momma and Grandpa, even stories of Grandma Dollop are fascinating. There were moments that made me smile - like when Fish hits Will in the face. The description of Grandma Dollop's funeral really is lovely.

      The ehhh: It was as if the author excepted the plot to drive the entire book. But that's kind of difficult when it's about some kids riding on a bus with a meek man and a kind woman for...two days? Three? there was nothing that stood out - no twists or turns that surprised me. The narration a was very juvenile - I could not believe the narrator, Mibs, was 13-years-old. She was just so, incredibly naive - the way she cried every time things got hard, her inability to understand her social world, the big-eyed,they-can-do-no-wrong way she views her family and its talents. Her voice could not have been more than that of a ten year old. And then, perhaps because of this over-simplistic narration, the other characters on the bus felt slightly caricatured. Not so much that you'd want to stop reading, but enough that it was hard to really like any of them.

      And then, through this faulty narration, the writing itself felt...over-the-top. It was just trying sooooo hard to be cute and heartfelt at the same time - there were some turns of phrases, like "Maybe we should stop listening to the outside voices and the other voices in our heads and listen to just our one strong sure voice," (or something to that affect) that reinforced the over-simplistic narration (seriously - do YOU know any thirteen year olds who talk or think like that?) while also starting to sound preacher-like. Just lots of heavy eyerolling.

      Ultimately, I am really surprised this is a Newberry contender. There was no emotional punch, no strong soul-changing feelings to be had. In fact, my soul, sadly, remained quite intact.
    • 5/5
      This book was absolutely spectacular. One thing I loved about this book was the character development. Mibs starts out as a little girl, controlled by everything and everyone around her. Her life revolved around getting her savvy. She was tormented by the girls at her school, and she was constantly in the shadow of her older brothers. By the end of the story, Mibs was a strong young lady who knew how to distinguish between her inner voice and the voices of others. Her older brother, Fish, also had some amazing character development. He starts off terrified of his abilities, becoming worried and anxious anytime he is around water. By the end of the book, he is very much in control of himself and his savvy. Deeper than that, though, this shows Fish's emotional self control. Savvy is just a metaphor for each character's emotions; this is clear because the savvies act up whenever the characters are heightened emotionally. The character development in this book is just phenomenal.Another reason I adored this book was the way it was written. Ingrid Law utilized some ridiculous words that perfectly complemented the book such as "flibbertygibbety", "soggy boggy", and "ragged-jagged". These fun filled words truly add a sense of wonder to this amazing book.The main idea of this book is to always love yourself for who you are, and that is demonstrated in each character of this book.
    • 4/5
      Savvy is a beautiful story. It is the type of fantasy where the one change is made and the rest of the world follows logically. Just because one family has savvies (super-powers of a sort) doesn't mean that actions don't have realistic consequences. On top of that, the language in the book is perfectly chosen and I couldn't help but read the whole book in a Texas accent.
    • 4/5
      The Beaumont family has a magical secret, on their thirteenth birthday each of them inherit a ‘savvy’ or supernatural power. Rocket creates electricity, Fish controls the weather and Grandpa Bomba can move mountains. Each leaves school on their thirteenth birthday for homeschooling whilst they learn to control their ‘savvy.’ Experience, such as the out of control hurricane Fish created on his thirteenth birthday, has taught them that this is the safest option.Mississippi Beaumont, or Mibs as she prefers, is about to turn thirteen when her world is turned upside down. Just before her birthday her father, who does not possess a ‘savvy,’ is involved in a terrible accident. He ends up in a coma in an out of town hospital. After Mibs mother and her brother Rocket rush off to the hospital, the preacher’s wife along with her two children, 16-year-old Bobbie and 14-year-old Will, arrive to take care of the family. They plan a public party for Mibs birthday, a disaster just waiting to happen depending on her ‘savvy’.Mibs sets out on a mission to reach the hospital and revive her father, sure that her as yet unknown ‘savvy’ will be able to help. She stows away onto failing bible salesman Lester’s pink bus with the other children, only to find it heading in the wrong direction. Mibs gradually learns that her ‘savvy’ is the ability to hear other peoples voices if they have ink on their body. She must learn to separate out the voices, block out those she doesn’t want to hear and listen to her own inner voice. This makes for an interesting journey as Lester has two tattoos’ that are constantly bickering at each other as well as berating Lester. I love the cover artwork of this uniquely wonderful and extremely entertaining coming of age story. A really good read with a great storyline. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      A fun little book by Ingrid Law. I enjoyed every minute–from meeting Mibs Beaumont and her unusual family, through the crisis that befalls them, through the swashbuckling adventure Mibs undertakes to try and solve the problem, all the way to the semi-sweet (my favorite kind) finish. This–right here–is why I love young adult literature. It’s so nice that my kids bring home plenteous quantities of it.
    • 5/5
      Mississippi “Mibs” Beaumont comes from a family more unusual than most. In her family, when you turn thirteen you get your “savvy” – your own special and unique ability. Mibs’ thirteenth birthday is fast approaching, and she can’t wait to finally find out what her savvy will be. Maybe she’ll be like her brother Fish, who is able to conjure storms, or her brother Rocket, who can generate and channel electricity. Or maybe she’ll get a savvy like her grandfather, who can create new land, or one like her late grandmother, who could capture radio waves and store their sound in pickle jars. Whatever it will be, Mibs can’t wait for her special day. But before her birthday can arrive, Mibs’ father gets in a bad car accident and is sent far away to a hospital in the big town of Selina. When her mother rushes off to be with him, Mibs is left to face her thirteenth birthday under the lone supervision of her grandfather and the oh-so-helpful preacher’s wife. And when her savvy manifests itself on the morning of her birthday it’s far stranger than she or any of the Beaumonts could ever have ever imagined. Convinced that she can use her new savvy to help her father, Mibs desperately sets off to reach Selina while inadvertently drawing along in her wake three of her brothers, the preacher’s son and daughter, and a timid salesman stuck with a load of pink Bibles. Together they’ll journey along the road to Selina, meeting new friends and old enemies, until they arrive at their destination with each of them ineradicably changed by their adventure.Savvy is a coming-of-age story and a road novel rolled into one. It’s an ideal read for children just entering the teen years, because it has a whimsical flavor rather than the tone of angst more typical of coming-of-age books. Adults and older children will also enjoy catching some of the sly references in Savvy to other stories, including The Wizard of Oz and Hansel and Gretel. Although Mibs is journeying to reach her father, he is largely absent until the end of the book. But the close bond between father and daughter – close enough that Mibs is driven to undertake her perilous journey because of it – is woven throughout the story. And when Mibs finally reaches Selina, we see how part of a daughter’s coming of age means that her relationship with her father must also change. Notably, it’s not just Mibs and her young siblings and friends who are changed by the journey but also the adults in this story as well. Savvy will teach children a lesson that, with any luck, they will remember even later in life- that the process of growing up never stops even after you become an adult. Reviewed by Book Dads
    • 2/5
      I'm only about a third of the way into it, but already, I keep thinking about Wonderfalls and how similar the premise is. It also gives the impression of being more action-packed than it is- it's a bit manic.

      update- meh. Good enough, but not great. I can see kids liking it. I want to know if there's a correlation between the kids' names and their savvies. Was Rocket called that before he could manipulate electricity? Wouldn't it have been awkward if Fish's savvy was flying, or something really un-fish-like? I don't really think there is a correlation, I just think that the names are convenient.
    • 4/5
      I think anyone who has ever dreamed of having a special gift or talent will enjoy Savvy by Ingrid Law. In a way, getting your savvy has to do with finding out a way that makes you unique from everyone else around you. We are all special, and a savvy is just an extension of that quality. The book is filled with interesting characters and the main character, Mibs, is someone I could easily relate to for a variety of reasons. She feels a bit out of place with some of her classmates because her family is different, which I think many kids can identify with. Mibs likes to spend time with her quirky family and their interactions will make you laugh. Reading about her family will keep you entertained and I am sure you will wonder what your savvy would be, if you were lucky enough to get one. Would you be able to fly? Read minds? Move objects at will? The possibilities are endless! This is a great book for people 9 and up to enjoy. Take a journey with the Beaumonts and imagine a world where anything is possible.
    • 4/5
      I found this book interesting and entertaining. I read a while ago, so I can't go into much detail. Even so, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy and/or likes the idea of having special powers.
    • 4/5
      I found this adorable and hilarious, with just enough wisdom to make it memorable. Another one I'd never have found except for goodreads members, so thank you!
    • 5/5
      I absolutely love it! I almost cried when they finally get to their dad at the hospital; I'm just impressed about how a book intended for younger readers can move an adult to tears. My heart will always be young ;)
      Praise Ingrid Law!!
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this book for the plot and the character traits of the characters. I like reading about people with magical abilities and all the possibilities of what they can do with their powers. In this case, the main character would hear what people were thinking if they had ink on their bodies. I loved how she was such a sympathetic person and concerned about others, even strangers, when she herself was not treated well by others. I loved how the brother who was only a year older felt that taking care of the younger siblings was his responsibility. I also liked how at the end, the father survived the car accident, even though he was never the same. The theme of the book was about struggling to grow up, being a good person, and taking care of each other.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book because it involved a magical aspect as well as a coming of age theme, much like Harry Potter. It was cool how the story focused around Mibs finding her own talent when along the way, she realized everyone had a talent, magical or not. I also liked how this book focused around family, because even with a hugely unrealistic theme like magic, family is something everyone can relate to. I also liked how Mibs ability to speak to her fathers tattoo ended up helping even thought that seemed like an unhelpful savvy. The bid idea of this book was that everyone is unique and special in their own way!
    • 2/5
      I really had a hard time getting into this book. I just felt for most of this book it was 300 pages of filler. I had originally picked this book in class because it was the only one I had not read out of the collection multiple times. I wanted something different, but I really struggled to muster up any desire to read and finish this book. The main theme of the book is that everybody has a variety of characteristics. Each person is going to have different skills they are better at developing than others.I usually do not have strong aversions to books, but this is one of the few exceptions. I found the book to be a long book that struggled to maintain my interest. It's 350 pages of a group of misfit children riding around on a bus in Nebraska and Kansas. While the book takes on elements younger readers may possibly enjoy, I find the aspect of shuffling around a plain state, just that, plain. There was so much potential for themes or concepts, but everything seemed to fall short. For example, the magic powers of storm and reading people's thoughts are generic. I also found the power points to not be as much of a major theme. They were prevalent, but not the primary focus.I also feel that the conversational dialogue to be insipid a lot of times. Mississippi frequently sounded older than she was. I also found Fish to sound too old for his age. The language used in their dialogues just seemed forced. I got tired of following this endless road trip around page 100.
    • 5/5
      Ever wondered what life would be like if you had magical powers? I really enjoyed this book. Law takes her readers on a journey revealing the untold truth of the characters in the book. Her use of imagery allows readers to paint a mental picture in their heads and experience life with Savvy. The book is long, but Law's word choice made the book appealing to its readers and easy to understand. Law's message to her readers is, "self discovery" and "accepting who you are." Every one is different, but that's what makes us special.
    • 5/5
      This science-fiction novel surrounds the Beaumont family who all (except the father) have a special power that they refer to as a "savvy." When the children find out that their father is unconscious in the hospital they sneak onto a bus with some friends in order to visit him. The children meet some interesting characters and get themselves into some trouble on the way. I my opinion this is a must read book. It is incredibly moving and the detailed writing helped me visualize every moment. While Mibs looked out of the windows of the bus the view was described as, "field after field of last summer's dead brown cornstalks and rows of lifeless, skeletal irrigation equipment..." One of my favorite aspects of this book was the point of view. Mibs was the narrator and the main character who spoke with pizazz. She used playful words and phrases such as catawampus, harum-scarum, tittle-tattle tidbit, higgledy-piggledy and hobbledehoy. The first person point of view also helps the readers feel more connected to the story and to Mibs. The author has a very pure and sincere way of showing that Mibs is a very insightful being. Through Mibs inner dialogue, the reader can connect to how she is feeling at the moment. For example, Mibs reminds herself that she was running away for her father in order to save him she has an overwhelming feeling in her stomach as she thought, "I was running toward Poppa, but maybe-maybe-I was running away from something else." The big idea of this book is that everyone has something that is special about them and the impact only depends on what you do with your "special know how," as Mibs calls it.
    • 5/5
      Savvy is a veyr well written story about a family who possesses special powers. The protagonist is just learning what her special talent is and she is hoping she will be able to use her gift to help her father who has recently been injured in a car accident. This book follows 5 memorable characters on a fluke road trip across the country. They are struggling to get along, struggling to manage their powers and their relationships, and struggling to make it to the hospital before it is too late. This is another excellent book for both intermediate and young adult readers. A great story for students who enjoy magic, adventure, and romance.
    • 5/5
      Savvy is a mix of new and old, where each child within the family has their own particular magical gift or 'savvy'. The 'savvy' doesn't always make life easy, which is a sign to show that no matter what, everything in life is give and take and there's no such thing as an entirely positive trait without the negative. It also shows that anyone can have a 'savvy', even if they don't realize they do.

      For example, Lil has a 'savvy' in that she helps Lester finally move past his problems. In this book, everyone has to go through a process of growing up, after a process of running away from their problems. Lester can't escape the demons of his past, Mibs is afraid of her savvy, Fish can't control his...and yet, throughout the book, everyone manages to overcome their adversity and become better people for it.

      There isn't an entirely happy ending, but there never is, not in real life. Mibs' father doesn't entirely recover, and he seems to alternate good and bad days, but after Mibs' adventure, she can put things into perspective. That's what Savvy is all about. Realizing your problems and putting them into perspective before letting them control you. It's a good lesson, no matter what age you are.
    • 5/5
      This book was a fun read. It is very different from the other books I have encountered. I think something that made this book great, was that it was written from Mibs perspective. The child's view is always more entertaining to me than and adults. I think something that caught my attention was how Mibs thought Lill was an angel. But not her own angel, Lester's angel. She could tell that they were meant for each other. I also really liked how the author seemed to make lateness, Lill's savvy. She was really good at being late to work and into Lester's life. Also, the story was very clever. I thought when the turtle and the father were not awake, that Mibs savvy would be waking things up. The morning of her birthday led to that belief. Although, everything changed, and that was not Mibs savvy, her real savvy ended up helping her family in the end. I think the big message of this story was the support that family gives. When Fish, Samson, and Mibs were off on their adventure, the amount of support that Fish gave to Mibs, without knowing her savvy yet, really showed that he had an understanding of her, and wanted to protect her.
    • 2/5
      Narrated by Lily Blau. Mib's family is unusual in that as the kids turn 13, they discover their "savvy," or a kind of special power that they must learn to live with and control. Rocket's savvy is electrical in nature. Fish causes storms. Mibs discovers her savvy is that she can hear tattoos speak. Considering this intriguing premise, I found the first 2/3 of the story rather slow.
    • 4/5
      Wonderful fantasy novel for intermediate-middle school age kids. Full of figurative language and descriptions. The characters are unique and lovable! Great read!
    • 4/5
      Savvy is told from Mibs who like the rest of her family gains a "savvy" or power when she turns thirteen. Unfortunately the day before her birthday, her father gets into a car accident and falls into a coma. Mibs, accompanied by her brothers and family friends, takes the journey to the hospital in Salina in belief that her savvy is the only way to wake her father. The descriptive language and short chapters made this 342 page book into a quick read. I enjoyed the descriptions the author used to really paint the picture of every detail in the story. For example, she describes the way Samson looked at Lill as "the way the animals look back at you when you are watching them at the zoo" (p.145). Anyone who has been to the zoo knows exactly what look the author is talking about and can easily see this look on Samson's face from this sentence. The author uses this language throughout the book to keep putting these mental images in the readers mind as the story progresses.I also enjoyed the suspenseful plot as the reader anxiously awaits to find out what exactly Mibs' savvy is, and whether or not it'll be able to wake her father up. The author leaves hints at what her savvy may be by sharing the voices of tattoos that Mibs begins to hear, but keeps the reader believing it may be more as Mibs deeply believes it will be. The big idea is family and friendship as the reader follows Mibs on this crazy journey, she learns more about her family, friends, and herself. Also, by the end, Mibs finds that there is so much more to her than her savvy, which is why I believe the big idea is also don't judge a book by it's cover.
    • 4/5
      I really liked this book and thought it was really fun and exciting to read. The language was descriptive and the writing was clear and engaging. The book flowed and was paced well. The characters were believable and well developed. It was easy to connect and identify with the characters and relate to them, even though the book was modern fantasy. The were no illustrations in the book because it was a chapter book. The plot was clear, well paced, and full of conflict, resolution, and details. The big idea of the book is family and hard decisions.
    • 5/5
      Very funny with a high reading level. Story moves along quickly and could be a possible crossover title.