All the Impossible Things

by Lindsay Lackey

Overview

A bit of magic, a sprinkling of adventure, and a whole lot of heart collide in All the Impossible Things, Lindsay Lackey's extraordinary middle-grade novel about a young girl navigating the foster care system in search of where she belongs.

"Wise and wondrous, this is truly a novel to cherish.” —Katherine Applegate, New York Times–bestselling author of Wishtree

An Indies Introduce Selection

Red’s inexplicable power over the wind comes from her mother. Whenever Ruby “Red” Byrd is scared or angry, the wind picks up. And being placed in foster care, moving from family to family, tends to keep her skies stormy. Red knows she has to learn to control it, but can’t figure out how.

This time, the wind blows Red into the home of the Grooves, a quirky couple who run a petting zoo, complete with a dancing donkey and a giant tortoise. With their own curious gifts, Celine and Jackson Groove seem to fit like a puzzle piece into Red’s heart.

But just when Red starts to settle into her new life, a fresh storm rolls in, one she knows all too well: her mother. For so long, Red has longed to have her mom back in her life, and she’s quickly swept up in the vortex of her mother’s chaos. Now Red must discover the possible in the impossible if she wants to overcome her own tornadoes and find the family she needs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250202864
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	210,800
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.40(d)
Lexile:	630L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Lindsay Lackey has trained as an opera singer, worked in children’s and teen services at a public library, and worked for a major publishing house in publicity and marketing. Born and raised in Colorado, she now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and their spoiled dog. All the Impossible Things is her debut novel.

Editorial Reviews

09/02/2019

Eleven-year-old Ruby “Red” Byrd is skeptical when her kindly social worker takes her to live with new foster parents in tiny Bramble, Colo. Jackson and Celine Groove, an older interracial couple, immediately open their hearts to Red, though, and she is drawn to their petting zoo of rescue animals, especially their 400-pound tortoise, Tuck. And gregarious Marvin, who is Hawaiian and the son of Red’s respite caregivers, determines to befriend her. But she longs for her mother, who has been in prison for three years following an episode with pill addiction that left Red to fend for herself. Then her mother is released early, creating a literal storm for Red, whose roiling emotions can affect the wind. She longs to control this chaotic power, which infuses magic realism into Lackey’s charming, bittersweet debut. Included throughout are heartbreaking glimpses of Red’s life before her mother’s arrest, as well as Red’s letters to her mom, and readers will ache for her as she struggles to reconcile her affection for the Grooves with her fierce love for her troubled mother. Lackey’s compassionately drawn story ponders hope, grief, and found family, warming the heart while avoiding an overly neat conclusion. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 09/01/2019

Gr 4–6—Red has a secret she wants to keep—she has the ability to affect the wind with her emotions, a trait she inherited from her mother. Red has become a pawn inside the foster care system, and anger and fear create unpredictable storms that she cannot control. Her mother attempts to pull her life together and become a fit parent as she struggles with drug addiction. As a rotating cast of adults move through Red's life and she is shuttled from one family to the next, her sole constant seems to be her social worker, Ms. Anders. That is, until Red is placed with the Grooves, her fifth foster stop in under three years. The couple own a petting zoo and seem to genuinely care for Red, who is conflicted by the growing love she feels for her foster mom and her desire to reunite with her birth mother. Determined to help her mother regain custody at an upcoming hearing, Red works on a special project with her new friend Marvin to prove that just because something is hard, it doesn't mean it is impossible. Excerpts from the notebook Red keeps for the project are peppered throughout the novel. VERDICT This middle grade tale reads like realistic fiction with a supernatural twist as Red's wind spirals and brews literal storms. Lackey tackles difficult topics including addiction and loss with infinite gentleness. Recommended for fiction collections.—Lauren Younger, University of Dallas Library

School Library Journal

2019-07-14
A preteen tries to balance desperately missing her mother and slowly falling in love with her foster family.

Ruby "Red" Byrd, a white girl, isn't expecting much when her social worker leaves her with Jackson and Celine Groove, an interracial older couple who own a petting zoo. But the Grooves are gentle and kind; they barely flinch whenever Red lashes out or misses her mom, who is in prison after a pill addiction left Red effectively on her own. Red learns to love the animals, and her neighbor and classmate Marvin, who is Hawaiian and knows what it's like to feel like an outsider, takes it upon himself to become her best friend whether she likes it or not. (And as far as Red is concerned, that's not.) But whenever Red gets angry or distressed, the wind picks up and wreaks havoc wherever she is, and this magic makes her feel even guiltier than she already does for being what she views as an imposition to her foster parents. With heart-wrenching, distressing flashbacks to life with her mother and grandmother before entering the foster system and heartwarming bittersweet moments with her new extended family (Marvin's parents are the assigned respite family), Lackey balances Red's navigation of her new reality. Red's occasional, interspersed letters to her mother add further poignancy.

Painful to read—in a good way. (Fiction. 8-14)

Kirkus Reviews

An Indies Introduce Selection
A New York Public Library Best Books of 2019 Selection
A 2020 WILLA Literary Award Finalist in Children's Fiction & Nonfiction

“A gorgeous story about the joy that’s possible when we allow hope into our hearts. Wise and wondrous, this is truly a novel to cherish.” —Katherine Applegate, New York Times–bestselling author of Wishtree and The One and Only Ivan

"A story to tug at your heartstrings and bring a little magic too!" - 2020 WILLA Literary Award judging panel

"Lackey tackles difficult topics including addiction and loss with infinite gentleness." - School Library Journal, starred review

"A beautiful, nuanced story of how love and grief can coexist." - Mariama J. Lockington, author of For Black Girls Like Me

"An emotional tale filled with unique characters, heartbreaking realities, and a touch of magical realism." - Booklist

"Lackey’s compassionately drawn story ponders hope, grief, and found family, warming the heart while avoiding an overly neat conclusion." - Publishers Weekly

"Painful to read—in a good way." - Kirkus

"Lackey deftly draws readers into Red’s tumultuous emotional journey; with its strong narrative voice, interspersed with letters and journal entries in Red’s own words, the text resonates with a mixture of hope and hurt, strength and vulnerability." - The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher