MIDDLE GRADE REVIEW: The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty
ABOUT THE BOOK
Lucy Callahan was struck by lightning. She doesn't remember it, but it changed her life forever. The zap gave her genius-level math skills, and ever since, Lucy has been homeschooled. Now, at 12 years old, she's technically ready for college. She just has to pass 1 more test — middle school!
Lucy's grandma insists: Go to middle school for 1 year. Make 1 friend. Join 1 activity. And read 1 book (that's not a math textbook!). Lucy's not sure what a girl who does calculus homework for fun can possibly learn in 7th grade. She has everything she needs at home, where nobody can make fun of her rigid routines or her superpowered brain. The equation of Lucy's life has already been solved. Unless there's been a miscalculation?
A celebration of friendship, Stacy McAnulty's smart and thoughtful middle-grade debut reminds us all to get out of our comfort zones and embrace what makes us different.
REVIEW
Lucy hasn't attended school since she was in second grade. After having been struck by lightning and developing acquired savant syndrome, Lucy developed genius math abilities. But it didn't help her develop people skills. After an unpleasant second grade year, her grandmother home schooled her. Now Lucy feels ready to move on to college level material, but her grandmother wants her to spend at least one year in middle school. Lucy isn't happy about this, but she doesn't have much choice. But Lucy's OCD habits and genius mind make her stand out in ways she doesn't want. So she works to hide her genius and ignore the taunts of her classmates. She does make a friend, sort of, but she doesn't really know how to be a friend and she doesn't trust her. When she teams up with her friend, Windy, and another kid named Levi, Lucy is forced to get involved in a service project. Helping get dogs adopted isn't her idea of a great project, but at least helping with the record keeping allows her to use her math skills. Things start to shift though as she begins to learn what it's like to be a real friend. Then one of her new found friends commits a betrayal she finds hard to forgive. I'll admit this book made me cry. The way that Lucy was treated made me cry and I felt angry right along with her. I had to work through the emotions the book raised in me right along with Lucy. As most of us learn though, true friendship requires forgiveness, if it didn't none of us would be likely to have friends. A powerful story about being different and learning to accept that, something most middle school students struggle with as well as friendship. All the math was kind of interesting too.
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