I really enjoyed this book. Mass does a great job writing in three distinct voices throughout the novel. The romantic and platonic relationships fit the young age of the characters.

One of the few things I disliked about the book was all the talk about watching weight. I recognize that the book was published in 2008 and diet culture was extremely rampant at time, and that it is potentially still accurate to how 13 year olds would think about weight and physical appearance, but it made me uncomfortable. I appreciate Bree's arc of becoming less vain and how Jack's exercise helped him feel more confident, but some of the comments made by the characters feel borderline fat phobic in this day.

Other than that i enjoyed the novel and think it is a great middle grade read. ( )

"Glowing astronomical details entrance." ~ from Kirkus Reviews

Kids figuring out who they are and what their place in the world might be with the help of a solar eclipse and the beauty of nature. Enjoyed the science and astronomy info, and it was cool to read this story after seeing a solar eclipse myself in august! ( )

I thought it was a great realistic fiction story. It reminds me of reading Judy Blume stories when I was a kid. Except nothing taboo is discussed. Story is narrated by three main characters living completely different lifestyles coming together during a solar eclipse. After they leave, they leave being better selves. Not only did I enjoy reading the evolution of the characters but learning about the solar eclipse and having that event being the backdrop to the story was great. I will seek out more books by this author even though I'm not the target audience.

Side note: Dandelion Crater is an impact crater on the Moon. The crater was named in 1971 by the Apollo 15 astronauts after the American author Ray Bradbury's 1957 novel Dandelion Wine ( )

For a book that I thought suffered from a slow start, this one really came together by the end. I was fascinated by amount of character growth that occurred even if it did seem artificially fast growth at times. You really can learn about astronomy as well. I like that Wendy Mass didn't soften the hardship of the experience but instead focused on learning to deal with change and learning to grow from accepting it. I felt bad for Ally, smugly satisfied that Bree was thrown out of her superficial comfort zone, encouraged and tormented for Jack, but hopeful for every one of them. That's the sign of a great job at character development. When a reader is drawn to a character even though they are flawed and unfairly burdened in some cases. ( )