children's middlegrade fiction; divorce/magic/tough choices. I really enjoyed this one, though it got a little dark/weird at the end with the whole 90-year-old hoarder lady going crazy when 12-y.o. Rebecca tells her why she's there. I liked that Rebecca didn't always behave perfectly (she says some pretty awful things to her mom at some point in addition to the other things) but in the end figures out how to pacify her conscience. ( )

I started this book around 4 pm and finished it around 9 pm the same day! That was how good it was!!!!! ( )

Loved this book. The house urchin loved this book.

Also, it made me insanely homesick for Baltimore (bergers' cookies! Jimmy's!). ( )

Bigger than a Breadbox is the first book by Laurel Snyder that I have read, but it will not be the last! This book was wonderful - and when a book for those difficult "Tween" ages is a great read for an adult, that says a lot. Twelve year old Rebecca is a smart, level headed kid trying to get through an angry confusing time of parental conflicts - and I missed her when I wasn't reading. The author knows how to build a story and add just enough teen drama to keep the reader entranced, while keeping the main focus on Rebecca, and her growth as a character.
Then there is the breadbox....my favorite part of the story...it adds a dimension that makes this novel take off!
Loved it! (Thank you, Henry, for the recommendation!) ( )

This was a mildly enjoyable book for me. I didn't really feel the magic that I was expecting to, and it never really pulled me in, but I did like it. I liked the characters and the settings and thought the author did a fantastic job of making you feel like you were in Baltimore and Atlanta. I guess my main problem with it was that it felt too much like realistic fiction to have magic involved. I kept waiting to hear that the bread box was symbolic and that Rebecca really was stealing everything because of the mess her parents made of her life. And the ending was a little strange and felt at the same time too open-ended and too neatly tied-up. I'm not sure how that is possible, but that is how I felt while reading it. However, there are probably many middle school students who can totally relate to the character of Rebecca. She stays real through the whole book even though she makes some bad decisions. And I appreciated the love she showed to her little brother. However, at one point she has an argument with her mother and tells her mom how selfish she is and how everything is about her mom and she didn't think about anyone else when making certain decisions, but I felt like Rebecca shared in that selfishness and was poor me-ing through most of the book.
All in all, I liked this book and will recommend it to my middle schoolers.

Areas of concern:
Parents fighting and them mom taking children and leaving.
12 year old puts herself in a very dangerous situation.
A lot of lying. ( )