Carrying Mason, by Joyce Magnin–A Review

Don’t you love it when you and your child have the same taste? That is, of course,
except when they wear the same size clothing you do. Then, you never see your
favorite shoes until there are holes in the soles.

Well, I have discovered my daughter and I have the same taste in books. We both like
books with rich, colorful, multidimensional characters. We like a story with
what Randy Ingermanson calls a Powerful Emotional Experience (affectionately
known as PEE). But then again, who doesn’t.

A few reviews ago, I mentioned allowing my daughter to read a Young Adult book I’d
finished because she drove me crazy wanting to know what I was laughing about
while I read it. This time she drove me crazy wanting ME to read a mid-grade novel
that she really loved. So, being the wonderfully, awesome mother that I am (I
still haven’t convinced her of this), I complied.

The book was Carrying Mason, by Joyce Magnin, a story
about a thirteen year old girl who goes out of her way to care for her best
friend’s developmentally disabled mother after that best friend dies. A moving
story. Moving, because even though it starts after the death of the best
friend, the reader feels his presence
and grieves his loss along with Luna, the main character. Moving, because the
young woman is a real-life, flesh and blood character, who isn’t always nice to
her sister, yet when she knows something important needs to be done, she makes
a very difficult choice to make it happen. Moving, because the secondary characters
are also not one-dimensional. They are like the mothers, fathers, sisters and
brothers we see around us on a daily basis. Warts and all. I can relate. And I
guess that’s what I want in a story, is to relate. You’ll want your child to
relate to this one.

Though my daughter and
I both enjoyed the book, we had different reasons for doing so. From the moment
I opened the pages, my eyes were filled with unshed tears at the very real loss
this little girl experienced when her best friend died. The author really draws
the reader into this experience. And yet, my daughter loved the book for its
humor. She especially loved to laugh at the showy, vain and selfish sister who
seemed to always be a thorn in Luna’s side. A girl who, though she valued
everything shallow, knew when something was truly bad. Gotta like that about
her. Even if I do want to pray for her on the other stuff ).

So if you are looking
for a book that will give your mid-grade reader that Powerful Emotional
Experience (I’ll spare you the acronym), I recommend you buy this one.