Calliope Callisto Clark and the Search for Wisdom Book Review and GIVEAWAY

Book Review and GIVEAWAY

Calliope Callisto Clark and the Search for Wisdom
By Claudia Mills
Published by Holiday House

Son’s Review

This was a w book! First of all, it had one nonchalant smart kid who was a teacher's pet and was always flexing on every one-I know a kid like that except he isn't smart and isn't cool and not at all nonchalant-and that character was so annoying. I won't tell you any more though due to spoilers like crazy.  The main character's name is Callie Clark, but she changes her name to Calliope Callisto Clark, which is super cool; I might change my name to Satoru Gojo or Suguru Geto or maybe even Ryumen Sukuna. Callie wants a more interesting name and likes ancient Greece, and I like Jujutsu Kaisen, and those are the best characters ever.

As if Callie's life wasn't hard enough, that annoying kid (at whom she threw her underwear) he joins HER philosophy club and starts flexing on her in HER philosophy club. Also, the main character is always getting in trouble whenever she says anything, which is just so unfair and makes me livid and furious.  She also has tantrums and freaks out. She also has this dog named Archie which I don't think is short for Archibald.

About her dog:, if she has another tantrum she will lose him forever and ever and ever, which is just plain depressing because I would be sad if my cat went away for all eternity. After she threw underwear at the jerk/annoying kid and her dog pooped in another jerk's yard, she only had one strike before she would lose her precious Archie.

Now I loved this book because you got to see through Callie's eyes, and I recommend it to anyone who liked The Last Apple Tree.

Mom’s Review

I need to start by saying I have been intensely pressured to read this book by Son even though I was the one who wanted to read it first and brought it to his attention! (Son and I both wanted to read this after we each read The Last Apple Tree because we both independently loved the last apple tree and we’re excited about another book by the same author.) As he was reading, he kept saying that I have to read this as soon as he finishes because it is so incredibly good and that he wishes I had read it first so he could talk to me about it as he was reading. In fact, on the first night he started this, I noticed his light on well after bedtime. I caught him reading Search for Wisdom, and he told me that he just couldn’t put it down because it was “the best book ever."

Calliope did not disappoint.  In fact, she was stunning. The story is about a sixth grade girl who is being raised by her grandparents.  They agree to let her get a dog as she enters middle school in the hopes that it will help her regulate her emotions. In a series of painful-to-read disasters that jeopardize her ability to keep the dog, Callie epitomizes the struggle of life in middle school. She tries to be a perfect version of herself and doesn’t understand that to be human is to be imperfect.

I love how Mills writes Callie from a first person perspective so we can hear her voice. Callie comes alive and is eminently relatable - I was recalling my adolescence and thinking “if only I had known.” But when in junior high, one is so wrapped up in one's own experience like Callie that it's impossible to see that things are probably not as catastrophic as they feel. Accompanying Callie in her sixth grade odyssey allows the reader that external perspective while simultaneously feeling what Callie feels. My hope would be that it would prompt the intended audience to apply their insight to their own lives and maybe respond with great equanimity to what feels tragic but isn’t truly a tragedy. And isn’t that why we read? To step into different shoes? To understand ourselves and others? To contemplate our fundamental existence? To gain wisdom? Callie is a sympathetic character living a life that is both entertaining and edifying to examine. Claudia Mills has another powerful book here, and I highly recommend it to middle grade readers because Callie does indeed learn that imperfection is to totally fine

GIVEAWAY

Enter for the chance to win one of 10 signed hardcover copies of Calliope Callisto Clark and the Search for Wisdom. One grand-prize winner will receive two additional signed books by Claudia Mills, plus an unforgettable one-hour Zoom visit with the author!

Click the following link to enter the GIVEAWAY:

Calliope Callisto Clark and the Search for Wisdom: Book Giveaway

Bonus:

Note: Per FTC guidelines, I disclose partnership with Claudia Mills. All thoughts are our own.