Book Title: Catch Me When I Fall
Author: Bonnie Graves, Jaynie Royal (Editor)
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Number of pages: 128
Genre: children’s middle grade
Release Date: January 25th 2019
Favorite Quotes:
“She felt the hands that would catch her when she fell”
“She wanted to remember everything, press it on her brain so she wouldn’t forget a thing-the sights, smells, and sounds.”
“But hard as she looked, Emma could never see those sparks herself.”
“The question that sprung into Emma’s mind was why the good Lord will give anybody two heads? Especially a boy, when most of the ones she’d seen, knew little enough what to do with one.”
Goodreads Synopsis:
Set in Racine, Wisconsin during the Great Depression, Catch Me When I Fall is the story of one gutsy twelve-year-old girl’s quest to learn the identity of her father, the father her mother refuses to talk about. What’s the big secret? When Emma finds a photograph hidden in her mother’s bureau AND spots a circus poster featuring Filippo the Flying Wonder, she believes she’s stumbled on the truth. The aerialist’s resemblance to the man in the secret photo is too close to be coincidence. Rebelling against her mother’s warning not to go near the circus, Emma disguises herself as a boy and lands a job with the circus, determined to unravel the dark mystery that haunts her. It is here, amidst the sawdust and illusions of circus life, that Emma makes discoveries about her past that ultimately help her accept herself for who she truly is.
My Review:
5/5 stars
*I received an e-book copy of Catch Me When I Fall through Lien Public Relations in exchange for an honest review*
Sara Lien first contacted me asking if I was interested in reading/reviewing a middle grade book. I figured it would be nice to expand my blog a little bit. I also decided to change up the books I am reviewing since I am working in an elementary school, so it would be nice to start compiling a list of middle grade books to recommend to students.
For how easy things are to find in this day and age, it was interesting to read a book set during the time of the Great Depression where the character Emma has to find her father completely on her own. The rules and such are completely different during that time vs now. There seemed to be a bit more “freedom” as far as what children do for fun back then. Again, this makes sense since nowadays kids are so tied up to electronics that they never have that “freedom” to go where they please (obviously its a different time). It was almost amusing how independent Emma is in the story, especially for where and when the story takes place. I liked how the character Emma compares herself to Nancy Drew when trying to solve the identity of her father.
I definitely how Emma was written as a spunky twelve year old girl who went against the social norm of what girls were supposed to be. I liked how her cousins were written as the typical “annoying” family members.
It was interesting to read a story from the perspective from an extremely inquisitive twelve year old. For a time when woman weren’t treated with the same respect as men (still aren’t), it was really interesting to see it from this perspective. She had to deal with being treated differently from her cousins, even though they lived in the same household and were around the same age. The writer did a really nice job at building suspense of whether or not Emma would meet her father and if her mother would find out what she was doing. I recently did a lesson to fourth graders about the importance of making predictions and I was definitely doing this as I was reading. It was fun to play detective as you read.
For this being my first middle grade book as a young adult reviewer, I really enjoyed it. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially those who enjoy reading books where characters try to solve something on their own.
I hope that you enjoyed me review and hope that you decide to read Catch Me When I Fall by Bonnie Graves.
Author Websites:
Living in a World of Book Quotes 
Thank you for reading Catch Me When I Fall and for your wonderful review! I hope you will share the book with your elementary school kids next fall. I’d love to get their responses, too. Yours were so interesting to me. It made me think of Madeleine L’Engle’s insightful statement, “If a reader cannot create a book along with the writer, the book will never come to life.” You made my book come to life. Thank you.
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