Hi Readers ! Welcome to my stop for " Learning to fall" by Sally Engelfried. An huge thanks to Little, Brown Books and for the earc !
TITLE: Learning to fall
AUTHOR : Sally Engelfried
PUBLISHER : Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
GENRE : Middle grade
PUBLISHING DATE : September 6, 2022
BOOK LINKS: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | Target| IndieBound
Twelve-year-old Daphne reconciles with her father, who
left her stranded three years ago, and learns forgiveness one fall at a time in
this heartwarming debut by Sally Engelfried. For fans of The First Rule of Punk.
Daphne doesn't want to be stuck in Oakland with her dad. She wants to get on
the first plane to Prague, where her mom is shooting a movie. Armed with her
grandparents’ phone number and strict instructions from her mom to call them if
her dad starts drinking again, Daphne has no problem being cold to him. But
there's one thing Daphne can't keep herself from doing: joining her dad and her
new friend Arlo at a weekly skate session.
When her dad promises to teach her how to ollie and she
lands the trick, Daphne starts to believe in him again. He starts to show up
for her, and Daphne learns things are not as black and white with her dad as
she used to think. The way Daphne’s dad tells it, skating is all about accepting
failure and moving on. But can Daphne really let go of her dad’s past mistakes?
Either way life is a lot like skating: it’s all about getting back up after you
fall.
When her mother gets an
important role in a film that will be shot in Prague, Daphne is forced to leave
Los Angeles to spend the whole summer in Oakland at the home of her father,
with whom she has not had a relationship for some time due to his alcoholism.
Despite her father's every attempt to reconnect with her so as to reduce the
distance that now separates them, Daphne has no intention of letting herself go
and forgetting all the suffering she suffered from her absence. However, things
change when Daphne, convinced by her new friend Arlo, will decide to get
involved by challenging her fears and to start going on the skateboard with her
father. Lesson after lesson Daphne and her father will learn to know and love
each other again, but only if they are totally honest with each other will they
be able to put the past aside so they can rebuild a true father / daughter
bond. For Daphne, it was supposed to be the worst summer of her life, instead
it will turn out to be a summer of change and rebirth.
I found this reading very
enjoyable and exciting, especially in the final chapters. With this story, the
author has managed to deal with the right intensity and delicacy a fairly
complex topic such as alcohol addiction, but also the difficult dynamics that
can be created between parents and children.
The protagonist Daphne is
a character that came straight to my heart, in several moments I saw me at her
age. Since her parents divorced due to her father's alcohol problems, Daphne
has always and only been able to rely on her mother with whom she has an almost
symbiotic relationship. Little by little the contacts with the father have been
fading, being reduced to some sporadic telephone contact. When her mother
leaves for a job in Prague, Daphne reluctantly finds herself having to spend
the summer with him, whom she has not heard and seen since her ninth birthday,
one of the saddest and most painful days of her life. That day her father had
promised to take her to the park to teach her how to skateboard but despite
Daphne waiting for him there all day he didn't show up, also during her attempt
to try a trick on her own she broke in her arms. But what really hurt Daphne
was the fact that her father never apologized for forgetting his promise, so
from that moment she started thinking that she wasn't important enough to him
and didn't deserve his affection.
When she arrives at her
father's house, Daphne forces herself to be cold and aloof towards him, despite
being in front of a father who has been sober for several years and who is
trying in every way to rebuild a bond with her. But what will succeed and make
them find again will be their common passion for skateboarding. Although she
still doesn't trust him, Daphne eventually agrees to receive lessons from her
father, who will teach her all the tricks of the trade. The more time they
spend together, the more Daphne will get closer to him, learning about him
again thanks to the help of her grandparents. But above all for the first time
in a while both will be able to totally open up to each other, and Daphne will
finally be able to find the courage to talk about her true feelings with him
thus taking off a big weight from her heart.
In the course of her vacation, however, Daphne will also find a new friend, Arlo, the son of her father's best friend. Arlo is a frank and nice guy who will manage without too much difficulty to breach Daphne's defenses, helping her to face her fears and supporting her step by step without ever judging her.
Through the Skateboard
lessons between Daphne and her father, the author wants to convey a really
important message. Sometimes in life you fall, but this does not mean you have
failed, what really matters is never to break down but always get up and face
every obstacle with your head held high.
"Learning to
fall" is an enchanting middle grade, which speaks of forgiveness, courage,
trust and redemption.
