Here is the description from goodreads.com:
Hazel knows a lot about the world. That’s because when she’s not hanging with her best friend or helping her two moms care for the goats on their farm, she loves reading through dusty encyclopedias. But even Hazel doesn’t have answers for the questions awaiting her as she enters eighth grade. How can she make friends in a new school where no one seems to understand her? What’s going to happen to one of her moms who’s pregnant again after having two miscarriages? Why does everything have to change when life was already perfectly fine?
As Hazel struggles to cope, she’ll come to realize that sometimes you have to look within yourself—instead of the pages of a book—to find the answers to life’s most important questions.Hazel’s Theory of Evolution is a genuine, thoughtful, and ultimately uplifting novel about learning to flourish no matter what changes life throws your way.
What a truly thoughtful novel that might not be appropriate for all middle grade readers. Or younger middle grade readers. Yet this is a novel I would highly recommend. It deals with friendship in a way that really touched my heart.
Due to a bussing issue, Hazel is at a new school for eighth grade, separated from her best friend. One of her moms is pregnant again and Hazel is having a very difficult time dealing with her worry, after the mom's previous two miscarriages. Her brother should have started Stanford but has deferred for a year for reasons that Hazel is not quite sure about. That's a lot for a young teen to deal with on her own, without her best friend by her side.
I loved Hazel's smartness. I loved Hazel's love of family. I loved reading about Hazel's family's life on a farm. And I loved reading about Hazel's developing friendships with Yosh and Carina. The book deals with contemporary issues of race and sexuality and gender identity and disability as well as children caring for their parents. All are handled in a very sensitive, honest way.
Due to a bussing issue, Hazel is at a new school for eighth grade, separated from her best friend. One of her moms is pregnant again and Hazel is having a very difficult time dealing with her worry, after the mom's previous two miscarriages. Her brother should have started Stanford but has deferred for a year for reasons that Hazel is not quite sure about. That's a lot for a young teen to deal with on her own, without her best friend by her side.
I loved Hazel's smartness. I loved Hazel's love of family. I loved reading about Hazel's family's life on a farm. And I loved reading about Hazel's developing friendships with Yosh and Carina. The book deals with contemporary issues of race and sexuality and gender identity and disability as well as children caring for their parents. All are handled in a very sensitive, honest way.
I'm not sure that I'd say that this has anything to do with journal writing. Hazel doesn't keep a journal, but rather starts working on a book modeled by one of her favorite science books.
While George was about the challenges of allowing others to accept you as transgender, giving me a better understanding of the struggles faced by transgender youth, Hazel's Theory of Evolution has such an inclusion of characters. They add to the story, but that isn't what the story is about. Quite a different novel than George.
While George was about the challenges of allowing others to accept you as transgender, giving me a better understanding of the struggles faced by transgender youth, Hazel's Theory of Evolution has such an inclusion of characters. They add to the story, but that isn't what the story is about. Quite a different novel than George.
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