User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
This hit me RIGHT in the feels, in the best way. Bea reminded me so much of my childhood self and I wish that I could go back and time and hand this book to baby Chelsea to read to know that she's not alone. My heart is so full. I loved this so!!!!! much!!!!!
Rating: really liked it
So beautiful. Rebecca Stead has the gift of finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Rating: really liked it
I CANNOT STOP CRYING, BUT IN THE BEST WAY
Rating: really liked it
Things That Will Not Change:
1. Rebecca Stead writes pitch-perfect middle grade.
2. She really GETS how kids think and act, especially around guilt and anxiety.
3. She writes vivid characters who jump off the page.
4. She writes warm, loving families of all kinds.
5. THE LIST OF THINGS THAT WILL NOT CHANGE is a book you won't want to put down, even after you've finished.
Rating: really liked it
What incredibly great parenting to handle a divorce like that with an eight-year-old and then also at ten-years-old and twelve-years-old.
It’s a wonderful friendship story.
It seemed “younger” middle grade than I’d expected but I would have adored this book when I was eight. The way it’s written seems as though it’s geared to younger middle grade readers but the topics broached can appeal to all ages. A huge winner for middle grade readers!
I can see it being helpful to kids who are in psychotherapy, kids who suffer from anxiety, from anger issues, guilt issues, and also kids who have a gay parent/gay parents, kids who long for a sibling or have complicated relationships with siblings.
It’s a great story/reminder about how we don’t have to have the love & support of everyone if we have enough people in our lives who do love & support us.
It’s a great story about people being true to themselves, and about forgiveness especially forgiving oneself.
Wow was there ever a twist I did not see coming!
It sort of broke my heart in one small way but overall was an uplifting and positive story.
The story and characters have depth and seem genuine. It’s another great book by this author although for me I don’t see how any book will top
When You Reach Me which is a masterpiece in my opinion, but this book has memorable characters that will stick with me and I’ll remember their stories/this story.
Rating: really liked it
I always enjoy Rebecca Stead's books for middle-grade readers because she creates such charming young misfit narrators. This one features a girl named Bea who discovers that there's more than one way to make a family. She's quite adaptable, and she's enthusiastic about the changes coming into her life, but it's complicated. Some people will never accept that love is love is love is love, even when it's not traditional. The loving adults around Bea model for her how to stay hopeful and positive in the face of cruelty. I especially appreciated that the author did not whitewash the difficulties, and at the same time managed to inject a lot of whimsy and joy into the story.
Rating: really liked it
Wowee. This is one of the most piercing character-focused middle-grade books I've ever read. Stead reaches deep into protagonist Bea's very soul here as she copes with various elements in her life. Beautiful and spare as to expect from Stead.
Rating: really liked it
First of all, I really liked the character of Bea. She gave off some very Ramona Quimby vibes. The book follows Bea’s journey from two years ago. She’s dealing with some anxiety issues. Two years before the story starts, the parents have divorced and her father has announced he’s gay. Two years have passed since that point but it’s still two years from the point the present Bea is telling the story (you’re starting to see why I might have only given two stars) I kept getting confused as to how old Bea was and is. Anyway, her father is re-marrying to his new partner, Jesse. Bea is ecstatic because Jesse has a daughter and now she’ll have a step sister.
This book felt a little off and uneven to me somehow. There were charming parts, like the bat flying in the window and Jesse coming to Bea’s school for colonial breakfast. But other parts were so unrealistic, I felt betrayed by the author because she just needed to add drama somehow.
First example was Bea’s friend Angus, whose mother is incredibly rude to her because two years ago, as a third-grader, Bea pushed Angus out of a chair??? So now her best friend’s mom still doesn’t like her to the extent she doesn’t really go over to his house much? That seems a little unbelievable to me. Another example is Sonia, her step-sister-to-be, who basically gives Bea the cold shoulder for an entire week’s visit, ignores her letters, doesn’t Skype her, but then magically comes around at the end? I think tension between two girls about to become sisters is believable, but it didn’t feel like it was based on anything that made sense in the book. Bea has a guilty thought that she knows Sonia’s father better than Sonia. So if Sonia had thrown that in Bea’s face and been jealous, it would have worked. Instead, it was artificially added to create drama and didn’t seem to be based on anything other than Sonia’s homesickness. The one thing Bea always wanted was a sister, but then when she gets a perfectly nice girl thrown her way to be one, she just doesn’t care about Bea—for no reason.
The third, and very worst example of this, and the reason I took off stars, was the wedding scene. I just didn’t get that at all. It might have happened because everything up to that point around Bea’s parents had been saccarhine sweet and perfect and the author remembered real life isn’t like that. Divorce is never easy and it’s always sad. A family broken apart isn’t something to be celebrated, and Bea feels the heartbreak of that. When a spouse was hiding the fact that he was gay, that makes the situation even more complicated. But Bea’s parents never seem to stumble in being perfect parents that always get along after their divorce. It just didn’t feel realistic to me and even risks alientates younger readers who can’t understand why their divorced parents can’t be so perfect. So anyway, perfect parents didn’t create any drama. Jesse’s brother does. Here’s the spoiler. Jesses’s sister (who is also absolutely perfect and babysits Bea all the time) always accepted her brother’s sexual orientation. But their other brother Mission hasn’t. Bea sneakily invites Mission to the wedding. He shows up at their apartment a week before the wedding because he doesn’t want to miss the big day. Looks like reconciliation has happened. He goes to the wedding. Everything is going great. And then, for NO APPARENT REASON Mission stands up as the vows are about to begin and tells his brother not to get married and then knocks over the wedding cake. (And Bea was very excited about that cake) It just didn’t make sense. Why come for the wedding? Why show up a week before and say you don’t want to miss the big day? How many people would really behave like that? At the precise moment to cause soap opera levels of drama? It was just ridiculous in a book where everyone had been so perfect up until that point.
Then I got to the last little thing about corn growing and it also didn’t make sense. I had to go back to the beginning to see what Bea was talking about with the corn—and it still didn’t clear things up. It was like something wise was supposed to come from the corn growing story and oysters and none of it quite gelled.
So I was at about four stars at points throughout this book, but the bizarre ending ruined it for me. I felt like the author was trying too hard. The unnecessary confusion about time and corn and people behaving badly without motives and too perfectly at other times sort of ruined what could have been a quite charming book about a young girl coming to terms with changing families.
Rating: really liked it
Wholesome, heartfelt, adorable -- but also incredibly real, never sugar-coated. Stead is a master of POV. I flew through this, got choked up, had all the feelings. A delight.
Rating: really liked it
Another lovely middle-grade book by Rebecca Stead.
Bea is an anxious kid whose parents divorced because her dad is gay, and he's found his mate in Jesse. Bea tells her story about the divorce and the upcoming wedding, between which we get short glimpses of her life at school, with her best friend, with her cousins (with whom she doesn't always get along), with her mother, with Sonia, Jesse's daughter, who Bea hopes will become a sister.
There are plenty of the sorts of issues that crop up in families. Some painful things happen, but Stead writes about them with such a light, humorous and humane touch that it stays firmly this side of the dreaded Problem Novels that librarians used to load with awards in the seventies and eighties, and which my students pretty much universally loathed.
If I were not retired I would definitely have this one on my classroom shelves, both for kids going through the remaking of families, and those curious about those things. It's such a good-hearted book, with vivid characters, and clear-as-water prose.
Copy provided by NetGalley
Rating: really liked it
This is a really sweet little story with some fantastic elements that I so desperately wish we saw more of in middle grade, like childhood mental illness (anxiety), living through your parents divorcing, and learning how to face the homophobia in society as the child of a recently-come-out queer parent. I feel like it's all handled in such a good way and I also really loved the audiobook narrator!
All of that aside, I'm not rating this because, to be honest, I didn't enjoy the actual reading experience of this book — and that's okay, because this book isn't
for me! I'm 100% not the intended target audience for this book, so it doesn't really matter what I think! I just wanted to be upfront about why I didn't give this a star rating.
Thank you so much to the publisher and LibroFM ALC Program for providing me with this finished audio copy in exchange for an honest review!
Rating: really liked it
Oof, I had high hopes for this one as it was a nominee for the Goodreads Choice Awards 2020. But unfurtuntely I didn't like it that much. The maincharacter was a complaining little bastard that couldn't understand another persons feelings. And yes she was in therapy and that was all about feelings but I feel like she was there mainly for her own feelings. I just didn't like the tone of this book at all. It was a total let down for me.
Rating: really liked it
Ahhh! I have really mixed feelings towards this book✨ But I loved it lol😂 It is about Bea , Bea’s parents are getting a divorce and her dad (Daniel) will be marrying his boyfriend (Jesse)……everyone is happy including Bea …….but she gets happier when she learns that Jesse has a daughter…..Bea has always wanted a sister and now ,her wish will be fullfilled…..but as the wedding day comes closer , she learns a lot of things ,
suffers a lot things,
understand a lot of things……..❤️
I really liked this book but I found it really boring during some parts, and felt like this book was really stretched towards the middle part….stretched over unnecessary things😭 And it was really very slow😭
The opening scene was confusing but the ending was really good!!!💕 And one of the main things that I didn’t like about this book was it’s timelines……they were really confusing!!!😭
What I loved about this book is the character of Jesse…..he was really funny, sweet and smart!!! And to be honest, I didn’t really like the main character, Bea….she was weird…… I also adored her parents, though they were divorced, they were sweet and caring!!💖 I also liked Sonia!💖 And moreover, there was a big twist towards the end of the book which I kind of predicted but was still shocked!!!😂
Still can’t understand if I loved it or didn’t like it😂 But it is worth giving a try❤️
Rating: really liked it
Heartfelt, innocent, filled with love, uncertainty and trust in those whose job is to always provide a safe place to land, Rebecca Stead’s
THE LIST OF THINGS THAT WILL NEVER CHANGE is NOT written for adults. It is written for younger readers, told in the voice of a young girl who is experiencing life after divorce and while many things DO change, one thing young Bea knows, the love in her family is always there, no matter how its dynamics have been altered.
Parents do not have to stay together, but they do owe their children a continuity of love, and security and Bea’s parents are what ALL divorced couples should be like. Beautifully told, steeped in family love, acceptance of circumstances and respect, Rebecca Stead has given voice to a child’s experience as an innocent caught up in the affairs of adults without earning the lasting scars of pain, hurt and the venom so many parents spew.
Perfect for middlegrade readers, on up, just remember to “see” things as Bea does! Your heart will warm to this incredible tale. Give it as a gift for a family who may be facing major changes.
I was invited to receive a complimentary ARC edition by Wendy Lamb Books! This is my honest and voluntary review.
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books (April 7, 2020)
Publication Date: April 7, 2020
Genre: Middlegrade | Family Life | Divorce
Print Length: 224 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews, Giveaways, Fabulous Book News, follow: http://tometender.blogspot.com
Rating: really liked it
5 +++ stars
Ten-year-old Bea is the narrator of this gem of a book. When Bea’s parents announce their decision to divorce and the changes that decision will bring, they give Bea a notebook that has a list of things that will not change. When Bea is stressed and filled with anxiety, she always goes back to that list to remind herself that some of the very important things in her life will always remain the same. The book is such an emotional book, many times I was moved to tears because of how beautifully the author captures Bea’s inner world. Some of my favorite parts were Bea’s sessions with her therapist Miriam. Miriam helps Bea name her feelings and teaches her to how to figure out where she feels them in her body. Often times this isn’t easy even for adults, but Rebecca Stead writes so convincingly and expertly using Bea’s voice. I highly recommend this book for all the tweens and mother-daughter book clubs.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
