Trigger warnings include domestic violence and child abuse.

First, an admission. I used to be a free verse snob, prejudging something I had no experience reading. That all changed the day I discovered Ellen Hopkins and realised that some of the most emotional and engaging books are written in this format, so I was excited to see what Ebb and Flow had in store for me. Beside the joy of appreciating the story and characters, it also had me ugly crying in the form of “This is so beautiful!” 😭. So, to all of the free verse authors out there, my sincere apologies. I’ve reformed and am converted now!

The past year of Jett’s life has gone from bad to worse. His father is in prison, his mother moved him to the mainland and Jett has allowed victimhood to define him and his behaviour. As a result he’s made some really poor decisions and he’s been sent to stay with his granny for the summer, a well needed time out for Jett and his mother.

I adored Jett’s cotton candy granny, whose hair colour coordinates with her house colour. She is one of the coolest grannies ever! Her unconditional love for Jett came across as so genuine. She loves him no matter what and she gives him the space he needs to work through the guilt and shame he’s carrying about the events of the past year, yet also gently pushes him when he needs it.

Jett’s granny reminded me of my Nan and that’s probably one reason why I instantly connected with her. My Nan and I also played board games (except she always played to win whereas Jett’s granny takes it a little easier on him), she’d take me to visit her friends (Jett’s granny takes him visiting as well) and she was my favourite person in the entire world (I expect Jett feels much the same). My Nan passed on her love of reading, her quirkiness and her ‘normal is boring’ attitude to me.

The most valuable thing Nan ever gave me, which mirrors what Jett’s granny gives him, was her unshakeable belief in my goodness and ability to do whatever I set my mind to. Even now, over a decade after she went to hold my seat at the canasta table in heaven, I can still hear her telling me, “I knew you could do it” every time I accomplish anything, big or small.

Without Jett’s granny I expect things would have turned out a lot differently for this 11 year old. I know he’s going to look back years from now and credit his granny and those experiences with her that summer with the man he becomes. Now I’m talking about him like he doesn’t live on pages but if any author can make me ugly cry at how beautiful their book is, their characters are going to become a part of me. Especially when I cry while thinking about them to write my review - that’s a first!

Jett’s summer is one of respite, of taking stock and learning to take responsibility for his actions. He has the opportunity to consider the kid he was before he went to the mainland, who he became once there and the man he wants to become. Shining a spotlight on how difficult it is to face up to the actions you regret and forgiving others as well as yourself, Jett’s journey is ultimately one of redemption and hope.

While this is marketed as a children’s book, it has a lot to offer adults as well. The writing is simply gorgeous and reminded me why I love this author. There’s at once a simplicity and depth to the way Heather Smith writes and as with The Agony of Bun O’Keefe I was happily motoring along, loving the book but not realising my emotional investment in her characters until the ugly cry escaped. I wound up on the final page of Ebb and Flow with a satisfied sigh and tears running down my face, and the only word I could think of was beautiful.

Heather Smith’s writing reminds me of the feeling I get reading a Billie Letts book. There’s a vulnerability, openness and loveable quirkiness in their characters, and you’re permitted access to the real person beneath the façade. As you gradually delve into Jett’s rotten year you meet Alf who is adorable and childlike and the alleged villain of the story who I really liked, and whose emotions and acts I could empathise with. Cotton candy granny will remain my favourite character in this book, but she definitely had some pretty impressive competition for that title.

Ebb and Flow is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. I half want to say that I hope schools use this book as part of their English curriculum but if schools are still like they were back in the olden days when I attended, they tend to analyse the fun out of really good books, and I’d hate for that to happen to this one.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley (thank you so much to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for the opportunity) in exchange for honest feedback. I can’t wait for Heather Smith’s next book!

Ebb & Flow's story is splendidly written in free-verse form that can be easily comprehend even kids below its target audience. It is about Jett, a 12-year old boy who had a rough year and was sent away from the mainland to his grandmother for a vacation. Problems emerged when Jett befriended Junior, a troubled classmate that acts as a bully; Jett behaved like Junior, but he still tried to think straight instead of always obeying Junior. However, he was still included to the troubles Junior did to Alf, Junior's uncle with down syndrome.

Teachers could make this book a recommendation or as a reading assignment, particularly to middle graders. Students will learnt a lot from perusing this wonderful book especially on the topics about growing up, peer pressure, bullying, and treating people with special needs.

This book is both heart wrenching and heartwarming. A great addition to any classroom or school library. Books in verse can be hit or miss but I enjoyed this one, and think it can be read by adults and children alike.

Over a summer of love and struggle, one young boy finds the courage to forgive himself.

Told through a series of picturesque free-verse vignettes, Ebb & Flow is the story of Jett, a young boy going through some tough times. After a singularly bad year, full of poor choices and disaster, Jett is sent to live with his grandmother for the summer. Over the course of the summer, Jett begins to regain the decency he had buried under those choices. He slowly shares his story with Grandma Jo. Through it, we learn not only Jett’s past, but that of Junior and Alf.

I started with mixed feelings about Jett. He's a young kid to whom something devastating has obviously happened. The reader is teased with the 'rotten bad year’ through the book, but its some time before we learn details. But he's still making bad choices, even at Grandma Jo's. How he thought poorly of Nelly, and what he did to her. He feels bad about it, though. Jett’s clearly got a conscious, and he’s been through a great deal. It's really no wonder he's acting out at times. He'd gotten mixed up with a kid named Junior, who corrupted his thinking. Jett wanted a friend, and did what he had to in order to keep Junior as a friend.

Then Alf shows up. Alf is a child trapped in a man's body. He is sweet, gentle, and naive. He also happens to be Junior’s uncle, whom Junior loathes. He thinks Alf got something rightly Junior's, from his ma. One unfortunate day Junior decides to take it 'back’, and things go horribly wrong. Junior, though? He has plenty to shape his behaviour in unsavoury ways. He was being abused, and just wanted free.

This hit home on a very personal level. My brother fell in with a bad crowd, and went from being sweet and open-minded, influenced by me and our grandmother to be tolerant of those different, to being influenced by this crowd of hoodlums. His behaviour changed for the worst.

Jett realises his behaviour has changed and that awareness is positive. It means he can gain back what he lost. First he must forgive himself though, and that's hard. Ebb & Flow was a fascinating exploration of psychology, personality development, emotional maturity, and forgiveness.

‘-----
That's the thing
about being someone new--
once you kill your old self
and bury it deep underground
it'll never come back,

no matter how hard you dig.’

*Diseased, Ebb & Flow


‘______
It spent years
caught in the ocean waves.
It was tossed around
and beaten down,
until finally
it washed up on shore.
Now look at it--
what was once a piece
of broken glass
is now something better--
it’s a gem.

Even after all that battering?

Grandma smiled.
Because of all that battering.

*All That Battering, Ebb & Flow

I felt the unusual format, telling the story through one-shot vignette poems, made it more engaging. These bite-sized morsels were worse than potato chips! I'd say I was only going to read two or three, then get work done, but they drew me forward, eager for the next. This is the power of poetry, to capture the attention in ways pure prose can't.

This is the perfect gift for poetry lovers, or as a classroom tool for writing, storytelling, or child development.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Kids Can Press for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is a poignant tale of a boy who sruggles with changes in his family after his father is sent to jail. He makes poor decisions and chooses friends who need as much help as he does.

This book might divide some people - and perhaps lose some of its potential audience - by being presented in free verse, but it's all the fresher for it. The sparsely-worded pages also help disguise the slightness of the story, although in the end it certainly is rich enough to justify the entrance price. A lad has a problematic year, and so gets to spend the summer with his gran in her old house to get his head straight - but it's not only his problems he has to parse. Can he work out for all our sakes that he can be a good person, and in fact is one full stop, or will the cycle of bitterness, jealousy and violence be sustained another generation?

The style isn't inherently poetic - only now and again do we get really fine poetry, and as a result this isn't literary fiction nor completely the opposite - in the style of what a boy on the cusp of turning twelve would offer. The titles on each page were something I soon had to drop, although I did notice the repetition of one, and a few other pointed decisions. On the whole, the author really captures the wavering mind of a preteen lad, and the situation he finds himself in, in thrall to the town hoodlum with more than enough baggage to fill the pages by himself, is really engaging. I still don't think it really, desperately needed to be free verse, but it didn't fully suffer as a result. The right audience will really go for this - and to some extent I found it memorable, intelligent and ultimately very commendable.

Wow! I'm still processing this book. Written in free verse, a story about a boy a a series of bad decisions and the consequences that follow.

Ebb and Flow is the story of Jett, a young boy carrying guilt and a secret. We learn more about Jett and what has transpired in his life through short vignettes told in free verse. A thread from each vignette carries forward to the next, sometimes it is a person, sometimes an event. These threads tie each scene together to tell us Jett's story. The style of the narrative serves to heighten the emotional intensity of Jett's words. There is an ever present sense of something just below the surface that we can't quite tap into. It is wonderfully atmospheric and effecting.
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Why can't things just stay the same?
Because life is like the tides.
In, out.
Back, forth.
Push, pull.
High, low.
You just have to go with the flow, you know?

I discovered a book titled Ebb And Flow when I was trying to look for a heartwarming book. These days, I feel that I need a help for my soul, and need to do something that can inspire me to be a better person. Maybe a time to meditate. Maybe discovering a good book. And finally I found a chance. Kids Can Press granted me to read their book titled Ebb And Flow, by Heather Smith. Thank you, Kids Can Press and Netgalley. :)
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FYI, Ebb and Flow are not the name of person. It’s an idiom that closest in meaning to tides. You know, in and out. Back and forth. High and low. It makes me wonder that the title is very philosophical for a children book (Well, I haven’t mention that Ebb And Flow is a children book. Hehe.. Sorry. But it’s more than that. Trust me).

whenerver I felt like I was falling
I'd whisper NO REGRETS
and I'd bounce so high
I'd fly through the sky
and lose myself
in the clouds.

But, in the end,
when I needed it most,
the safety net
wasn't there.

The book depicts about the lowest point of a boy’s life named Jett. He and his mother have to move to a new town for a fresh start after his father went to jail. He arrives there with guilt and thought that it is all his fault. There, Jett lives with his grandmother who is trying to help him cope with everything he is facing.

Mom had called it our fresh start,
but it felt like the end of something,

Ebb and Flow is a children book. The writer knows how to write in the children’s point of view and how the children see the world. However, as I read this book, I know that children’s world is more complicated, especially to express the feeling. So I conclude that this book is written not only for children but also for adults.

That's the thing
about being someone new --
once you kill your old self
and bury it deep undergrounf
it'll never comeback,
no matter how hard you dig.

Writing in artfully crafted free-verse vignettes, Heather T. Smith uses a deceptively simple style to tell a powerful and emotionally charged story. The engaging narrative and the mystery of Jett's secret keep the pages turning. I finished reading this book only in 3 hours. But it successfully drives me become book-hangover--the feeling when you finish the book but you still think about it long after that.

I really love this book because of the heartwarming story and some twist here and there. Honestly, this book teach me how to forgive myself for the things I’ve done and the things I didn’t do. I try to accept my mistakes through the lense of a boy named Jett and his grandmother. It’s okay to make mistakes, so I can learn. And this book reminds me that there’s always reasons why people do bad things or act bad towards each other. We are bad. But it doesn’t make us wrong.

Can people tell if you've changed on the inside?
Depends on a person, I guess.
Some people, it seems, can look right into your soul.

I recommend this book for children to grow their empathy towards each other no matter what their condition are. And to adults, so they can forgive themselves for the things they call mistakes.

This astonishing book about a boy who has made a mistake, is feeling guilty for his actions, and his grandmother who is trying to help him was a captivating read. The free flow poetry was an interesting way to tell the sad story of Jett and Junior and Alf. The reader gets a better feel for Jett’s emotions because of this style. The comparison of the sea glass’s battering turning it into a gem is something every person can relate to, as is the remorse felt by Jett because of his actions. This book is an appreciable read for any young person, it would help them understand we all make mistakes and feeling regret is a normal part of that process.