SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

April 21, 2014 by Karen Jensen, MLS

Middle Grade Monday – Book Review – The Question of Miracles by Elana K. Arnold

April 21, 2014 by Karen Jensen, MLS   Leave a Comment

This is a beautifully written, quiet book that draws you in to the world of Iris, who is going through one of the most difficult experiences any of us can have – the loss of her best friend. Iris used to live in sunny California where she spent most of her free time in the company of her long term best friend, Sarah. One fateful day the girls are walking home from playing tennis when a car swerves off the road, instantly killing Sarah but narrowly missing Iris. The story begins after Iris’s family (her mother, father, and their cat Charlie) have moved to perpetually rainy Oregon for a fresh start.

Iris’s mother has a fantastic new position at a local university and her father is planning on turning their new, more rural, home into a self-sustaining entity – complete with wind power, gardens, chicken, etc. Iris starts out home schooling, but it’s not long before she decides she’d rather be enrolled in the local school. While she’s understandably reluctant to form new friendships, she really can’t avoid the attentions of Boris, a boy in her grade who sits with her at lunch and is obsessed with the card game Magic.
As their friendship develops, she learns that Boris was a ‘miracle baby.’ He wasn’t supposed to survive long after his birth due to multiple complications that were seen on his mother’s ultrasound. One of his aunts asked her Catholic prayer group to pray to a deceased Pope for intervention. Now that Boris is healthy, a team from the Vatican is coming to interview his family for evidence to add to the process for this deceased Pope to become a saint. Iris is fascinated by this, and the whole idea of miracles. She wants a miracle for Sarah – she wants to be able to see her again. In fact, she is somewhat obsessed with the idea that Sarah’s ghost is living under the stairs in their new house.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

This novel is an engaging exploration of the grieving process. It’s not at all morose, although Iris’s feelings of melancholy are evident. Her friendship with Boris is complex and we learn through her voice the process of starting over and making new friends. All of the main characters are well realized, including the adults. I love the characterization of Iris, especially. We get to see her in her full complexity, as an intricately realized preteen. I would highly recommend it for collections serving 4th through 6th grade students.

The Question of Miracles (ISBN: 9780544334649) will be on sale February 3, 2015 from HMH Books for Young Readers. 

Filed under: Elana K. Arnold, Middle Grade Monday, The Question of Miracles

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

September 2015

Middle School Monday - The Shrunken Head (Curiosity House #1)

by Karen Jensen, MLS

September 2015

Middle Grade Monday - Changes

by Karen Jensen, MLS

September 2015

Middle Grade Monday - Confessions of an Imaginary Friend by Michelle Cuevas

by Karen Jensen, MLS

August 2015

Middle Grade Monday: There’s always next year: Things I’ve learned coordinating middle school volunteers (a guest post)

by Karen Jensen, MLS

August 2015

Middle Grade Monday Book Review - School for Sidekicks by Kelly McCullough

by Karen Jensen, MLS

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

One Star Review, Guess Who? (#184)

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Announcing the 2023 Winners of the Annual Blueberry Literary Award!

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Review: Victory! Stand!

by Esther Keller

Heavy Medal

March suggestions: early Mock Newbery possibilities

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

The Transformative Power of Books, a guest post by David Aleman

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Newbery Medalist Amina Luqman-Dawson visits The Yarn

by Colby Sharp

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

18 Stellar Historical Fiction Titles for Tweens | Summer Reading 2021

Read the Signs: Middle Grade Fiction Centering the Deaf Experience

21 Insightful, Accessible, & Fun Books that Tweens Won't Want to Put Down | We Are Kid Lit Collective

12 Books for Kids and Tweens That Celebrate Neurodiverse Minds

Kwame Alexander: "My Purpose and Passion Is Creating Community" | The Newbery at 100

Commenting for all posts is disabled after 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023