Cover Image: Tiny Infinities

Tiny Infinities

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our library collection and will recommend it to students.

Was this review helpful?

I knew I wanted to read this book just from the blurb but I love it when the story is even better than you expected. It was such a joy to follow Alice through her complicated life. It's so nice when author's don't shy away from complicated in middle grade because even at, or especially at 13 years old, life is complicated. From family relationships to making new friends to how to make a right choice, Alice learns to navigate life and how she feels about what it holds. Even with all of this content, the voice is very readable and the characters have fun too. Highly recommend.

Was this review helpful?

I became... incredibly attached to this book. I could not put it down and I flew through it within a day. I really hope that this author puts out more books in the future because I need more. This was my perfect middle grade, and now I absolutely need to find more!

Was this review helpful?

Alice is dealing with a lot: the pressures of being a student athlete, her parent's separation, and her mom's depression. Yet, this is not a sad book. Read it, fall in love with Diehl's writing style, and understand all the accolades this book has received since its publication.

Was this review helpful?

This was a really engaging middle grade story that I think a lot of students will be able to relate to. Every teen goes through a phase where they are searching for their parents attention while still seeking independence and freedom.

Was this review helpful?

I loved this title and I have already purchased it for my library. I can't wait to hand it to students and discuss their thoughts on this wonderful read!

Was this review helpful?

Nothing had been the same since Alice's mother's accident, but then Alice's whole universe began to unravel. Her father had left, her brothers were gone, and her mother was trying to get rid of Alice too, but she had a plan to try and get things back to the way they used to be.

This was a really lovely story about Alice's struggles with all the changes her family was experiencing. Change is hard, and these were some huge upheavals for Alice. I found it so easy to embrace Alice. She was determined and tenacious and patient. She had a huge heart, which was especially obvious, when she was working with younger people such as her brothers, Timmy, and Piper. She was dealing with some big things and had some grown-up responsibilities placed on her. But still, she retained a youthful exuberance, which I loved.

One of the best things about this book are all the relationships that are explored - family, friendship, and even a crush are part of Alice's story. Her bond with her brothers was really special, and her aunt was a great supporter, but I think it was the dynamic between Alice and Harriet that won my heart. Harriet was quite a unique and interesting sidekick. She was quite the foil for Alice, but she was also her biggest champion. I loved the way she pushed her outside of her comfort zone and encouraged her to try new things and see things in a different way. Harriet was a quality friend.

Other things I loved:

• Swimming! Alice's enthusiasm was contagious. All her hard work and swimming aspirations had me hooked, and I found that I really enjoyed going to the pool. (Even the cheers)
• I love science, and I think I was drooling during all the Harriet science nerdy parts. I admired all her experimentation and found her entire exploration of the lightening bug enthralling.
• Dad was pretty upfront with Alice, and I appreciated that one person was honest with her. He wasn't perfect, but he tried and I felt the bond between them was quite genuine.
• Poolside picnics were often shared, and curly fries for the win
• Tent living almost sounded doable. I guess I loved the story behind the tent, and it was sort of symbolic to what Alice was trying to hold on to.

At it's core, this was a coming of age story, which was a little sad and a little heartbreaking, but realistic. Diehl addressed Alice's challenges with care and with a lot of insight.

Was this review helpful?

Working with 11 and 12 year olds makes stories about kids of those age difficult for me. They’re little kids but they’re not. They’re starting to learn how to have responsibilities and to figure out the world for themselves. Diehl captures this perfectly. The characters are extremely real and the challenges they face are dealt with complexity. This is exactly the kind of book I want in the hands of my students.

Was this review helpful?

Alice's dad has moved out, her brothers have been sent to live with her aunt and only Alice is left to deal with her mom who is still recovering emotionally from a devastating accident. But Alice is not happy and decides to live in a tent in the yard as a protest. For awhile she is able to get away with it - her mom mostly ignores her and she meets a new friend, keeps swimming, and starts helping out with a girl next store who won't speak. She even helps her friend experiment with fireflies. But eventually her parents force her to move in with her aunt - especially after some questionable decisions. What is the line where love turns to hate? Can Alice ever truly know or just accept that at some point things changed and she has to learn to live with it.

This ended up being a pretty good book - one of those that ends more realistically than most. It did take a long time to get there though and I am not sure it will hold reader's interest.

Was this review helpful?

.....................................................................................................................................................................................

Was this review helpful?

Tiny Infinities by J.H. Diehl is a promising book about Alice, her troubled mother and her meeting an unusual new friend, Harriet. It's a middle-grade novel with unique observations about family relationships, friendship and Alice's determination to prove herself in all ways. It's written for ages eight to twelve. I gave it five stars because it kept my full attention, start to finish.

"What I love most about backstroke is, it proves a person doesn't need to be looking straight ahead to know exactly where she's going."

The police left after Piper's parents claimed her from Alice's house. Her father was disgruntled. "He shut our front door, looking irritated and tired, as if he'd just put up with watching ten awful TV ads in a row, and now we were back to a show he didn't like anyway."

Alice met Harriet and was discussing how her parents met and she got her name from the dog. "But talking about Alice was like walking back over to that corner in my head and finding the box jammed full of mad, sad, and panic."

Alice's father is leaving. She is frustrated and upset. "Again the words came out madder than I expected, as if my voice had picked a mood without consulting me."

I received a complimentary Advanced Reader's Copy from Chronicle Books and NetGalley. That did not change my opinion for this review.

Link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Infinities-J-H-Diehl/dp/1452163359

Was this review helpful?

I adored this book. I have to say I was a bit leery going into this one just because I knew it would rely on the characters and I'm picky with character building but the author did an amazing job of building the main characters. I especially loved Harriet. This is not your typical coming of age book but it's a great one for early teens as it's a clean book that deals with hard stuff and real relationships, including how to cope. It does a pretty good job of normalizing things that many kids struggle with and that's never a bad thing. Basically what I'm saying is if you've read the blurb on the cover and it sounds even vaguely interesting, buy it! You won't regret the read.

Was this review helpful?

TINY INFINITIES was the incredible coming of age story of Alice, a girl stuck in all the spaces in between...trying to learn how to define her lines through the grey areas of life, in the spaces between warm and hot...in the tiny infinities of life.

The story is well written. While some of Alice's story is typical of a 13 year old, other topics addressed in the book are not as common, and give the book a very nice change of pace.

Was this review helpful?

I received this book from #netgalley and the publisher for free in exchange for an honest review.

Wow... This book a home run. I loved this story. It was a very gripping story about a young 13 year just trying to find her place in this world. I think this is great for young teens.

I commend the author on the release of this book and the publishing company that grab this book up for publish.

Was this review helpful?

There is so much that I loved in this middle-grade book, especially about its central character, Alice. In a world where there is so much unkindness going on these days, Alice's kindness, especially to younger children, is an important thing for middle-graders to read. Those years can be so hard, and Alice, who has just turned thirteen, shows it is not just okay to be kind, but that it can help you weather the storm of your own troubles to be kind to others.

A classic parentified child, Alice is the oldest of three. Her mother had a terrible car accident, six major operations afterward, is slow to recover, suffers from depression and her marriage to Alice's father has failed to the point that she asks him to move out. Alice processes all this from the perception of a thirteen-year-old girl. She blames her mother, even as she tries so very hard to care for her mother. She blames her father for giving up and for not sticking up for his family after he and her mother decided to settle down and have three kids. She tries to channel her anger, anxiety and sorrow into being productive- by training twice a day with her swim team and babysitting for her neighbors who have a toddler, Timmy, and an older child, Piper, who is minimally verbal. Piper and Timmy's older half-brother Owen is in high school and visiting his dad's family. While Alice enjoys a good rapport with Joanna, the younger neighbor children's mother (Owen's stepmother), their father distrusts Alice because of events at the open of the book. The ambient distrust and painful fragmentation of her family (her father did indeed move out, and her younger twin brothers are spending the summer with her aunt) are very hard on Alice. She's not taking it all quietly, however. As Alice forges her way through her summer, with her new best friend Harriet in tow, she parses the infinity between how her life ought to be and how it presently is.

This book is in the category of things that are wise and wonderful. I strongly recommend it for summer reading.

Was this review helpful?

I am really grateful to have received am advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. It is a beautifully told story about a girl named Alice who is trying to navigate through a summer of changes- her dad moves out after trouble with Alice's mom, her brothers spend the summer with her aunt, she has new neighbors, her friends are spending the summer out of town, she makes a new friend but isn't quite sure what to think of her at times, and she is trying to meet her goals on her swim team. I really enjoyed this book and all of the characters. Each character had their own issues that they were working through- both the children and adults. This book examines family dynamics, friendship and inner strength. My 12 year old son is really excited to read it next and I will definitely be recommending it to our middle school librarian.

Was this review helpful?

Tiny Infinities was an overall cute middle grade read. I really liked how our main character, Alice, was on the swim team and that kind of became her entire life. I used to be a competitive swimmer, so I really liked that aspect of the book. I also felt like the swimming aspect of the book was fairly accurate. I liked how the characters reacted to one another and how their relationships fluctuated. Some characters treat each other poorly for part of or most of the book, but then make up in the end. I thought the book was pretty cute, but it still touched on some important topics like divorce, separation, and disabilities. It wasn’t anything super special, but I still liked the book. It was well written and well paced.

Was this review helpful?

A big thank you to Chronicle Books and to NetGalley for a digital ARC of this middle grade novel.

You can't help but root for Alice. She is so eager to be a better swimmer, be a good babysitter, be a good friend and to fix her family. When her dad moves out at the beginning of the summer, she pitches their family renaissance tent in protest hoping it will make her dad come back home. What it does is set her up for science adventures with her new friend Harriet and gives her a new appreciation for her backyard among other things. Alice makes mistakes and suffers consequences, but she also has many successes along the way and her family finds their way to a new normal. I wish there were not broken families like Alice's for thirteen-year-old girls to deal with, but there are. This book is an honest depiction of one such family that can help bring understanding to kids in this age group.

Was this review helpful?

I wanted to like this book. unfortunately i just couldn't get into it. I didn't mind the writing style and the story line was there. It just seemed to miss the mark with me.

Was this review helpful?

If you are looking for a book to recommend to a young reader going through tough times this is where you need to start. The main character, Alice, is desperately trying to get her family back together. Throughout the book she is going through life and sees that not everybody has everything go the way that they want, that maybe she doesn't have the worse end of the deal.

This is what every little kid who is going through divorce needs in their life.

Was this review helpful?