Splat. Splat. The sound of eggs dropping. The sound of hope breaking. The sound of failure. This is what seventh-grader Natalie feels like as her family is ripped apart right in front of her eyes. In the book The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller, Natalie’s mother is struggling with depression, while she is caught in the middle with her father, a therapist. Her only escape from her situation at home is school and her best friend Twig. Twig is always there to support her when times for Natalie are rough, and shows her what a true friend looks like. However, Natalie’s dad wants to use his therapist friends and techniques to win Natalie over. She feels cornered and doesn’t know what to do. When Natalie gets with Twig and a new boy from school to do an egg drop competition, she experiences a roller coaster of emotions and feels she is living a double life. One happy and cheerful with her friends – the other deeply emotionally scarred from her time at home with family. To solve her problem at home, she creates a plan. If she can win the $500 prize from the egg drop, she can go with her mom to Mexico so they can see her mom’s favorite flower, the Cobalt Blue Orchid. The Cobalt Blue Orchid bloomed through the most toxic soil and was a symbol of hope for Natalie’s mother, a botanist, but now the symbol only stays in Natalie’s head as she makes her plans. She hopes her mother seeing the Orchid will bring the family back together and everything will go to normal. Her situation gets even worse when she finds out that Mikala, a girl who she doesn’t like, has a mother who fired Natalie’s own mom from a company and sent her into a deep hole of depression. This story follows the journey of Natalie as she tries to find a way to work things out with her mom. Will Natalie and her friends win the competition so she can mend the broken relationships in her family? Or will she stay in the same spot, struggling and helpless? Read The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller to find out!
A powerful thought from the main character Natalie was when she said, “When I got to fifty-two, I made a resolution: if she doesn’t care about me, I’m not going to care about her. She is not my mother right now”(Page 106). This quote resonated with me because I know what it’s like to be super angry at someone. So angry to the point where you don’t know where it’s coming, and it’s unreasonable. Sometimes, it’s for loved ones, and when that happens you wonder why you are so mad at a person that’s always been there to support you. Often times, in the aftermath, you reflect on what you might have done and feel guilty for what you did for that person. You might not have been thinking at the time, but you realize the effect it had on that person – and you. Overall, this quote reminded me to always remember to show your feelings in a way that someone can understand and forgive. Most of the time, fighting fire with fire doesn’t solve the solution, it just makes it worse.