Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I loved this book about friendship and. acceptance. I’m not accustomed to reading prose but enjoyed how this story unfolded. If you liked Wonder then you’ll love The Magical Imperfect!

This incredible book, set in the late 1980s, and written in verse, has so much heart and feeling. The characters are a perfect match for each other, and help each other with all that is going on in their lives. It is also a book about overcoming bullies, the importance of community, as well as family.

I was absolutely smitten with Etan and his story. He had such a good heart and he and Malia helped each other develop in believable ways. I loved all the strong family connections and shared history, as well.

It’s the fall of 1989. 12 year old Etan loves rooting for the San Francisco Giants with his dad, drawing, and walking Buddy, his neighbor’s dog. Ever since his mom checked into a hospital to treat her mental illness, Etan has stopped speaking because she was the one person he could talk to about everything. He and her best friend Jordan have drifted apart and with his dad working a lot, Etan spends a lot of time at his grandfather’s jewelry shop who shares stories of immigrating from Prague to the United States to flee the Nazis.

One day, a neighbor and fellow shop owner, Mrs. Li, asks Etan to make a delivery to the home of Malia, a young Filipina girl living with severe eczema. Bullied because of her skin, Malia is now homeschooled. After Etan shares a drawing of her dragon mailbox with Malia, the two connect quickly. Etan feels comfortable talking with her and as they explore the redwoods near her house, Malia opens up about her health condition. After Etan is cut during an earthquake tremor, his grandfather applies a clay from the old world on his arm and sings something in Hebrew making the cut disappear. He wonders if this earthly material could cure Malia. What Etan has yet to realize though is “true friendship is the oldest and strongest form of medicine.”

Gorgeously written in verse from the point of view of Etan, The Magical Imperfect is a touching and hopeful story of family, friendship, and finding out who you are. The setting perfectly fits the plot, for throughout the story, small earthquakes occured emphasizing the uncertainty in both Etan’s and Malia’s lives. Would Etan’s mom come home? Would Malia skin heal? When the historic earthquake occurred right before the third game of the 1989 World Series between the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants, my heart was racing and I couldn’t stop reading. And like Rajani LaRocca’s novel in verse, Red, White, and Whole, I loved being transported back to the 1980’s and cannot deny I visited YouTube to watch Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time video. Thanks to the author and MacMillan Children Publishing & NetGalley for sharing an eARC with me.

Ooooh, I loved this so much! I am a sucker for historicals in verse, and I love how the poetry here captures this time and setting so well. The friendship between these teens is indeed magical!

Really enjoyed this novel in verse. I didn't finish before it expired, but I will be getting a copy to finish and share.

This beautiful, heart-warming story told in verse will grab your heart from the first page. The Magical Imperfect blends realistic “magic” and lessons on friendship and acceptance while also tackling tough issues like mental illness and medical conditions that manifest in physical imperfections. I can't wait to introduce this novel to my middle grade students!

A beautiful novel in verse set in 1989 California during an active earthquake period. Etan, a 2nd generation American, befriends Malia, who is shunned based on what she looks like. Etan loses his words when his mother has to go away - how he overcomes and becomes a friend and hero is why I love this book. Also 1989 baseball and a heartwarming immigrant story with themes of inclusion and acceptance will have middle grade readers thinking about this story for a long time.

I really wanted to love this book. I'm so fascinated by all of the topics covered -- the 1989 earthquake, Jewish immigrants, the World Series, California history. Unfortunately it just didn't pull me in. It may have been that it was just trying to cover TOO much. For grades 4 & up.

Etan lives in the San Francisco Bay Area during October of 1989. He lost his words when his mom went to San Francisco for her clinical depression (not sure if the diagnosis was confirmed). The story is set in a fictional town in the Bay Area (I tried triangulating but couldn’t figure out where this town was set) founded by immigrants who came through Angel Island. Etan’s family are Jewish immigrants from Progue.

This is a novel-in-verse middle grade book written from Etan’s POV as he begins to gain confidence in himself. I was on edge as the narrative neared the SF 1989 earthquake. I was intrigued by Malia, who Etan meets when he helps with deliveries, as their friendship blossoms and they connect in their social isolation. This is a tender coming-of-age tale with diverse characters that reflects the SF Bay Area and some magic sprinkled throughout as the character navigate the tremors of the earth and of life.

The Magical Imperfect is a novel in verse that just makes your heart feel so much. This novel has everything to do with family, friendship, and the power of community. Etan and Malia find each other at just the right time, helping each other to grow and believe in themselves. Thank you to @mackids (Feiwel & Friends) and #netgalley for providing the digital arc. #themagicalimperfect

Special thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. 3 stars

This was a very different middle-grade read compared to what I normally pick up in this genre. It's historical fiction but also has aspects of magical realism that leant the story an even more whimsical atmosphere. It's written in verse and though the prose is simple and without unnecessary flair, it was also evocative and I could easily picture the neighbourhood form in front of my eyes. The community was diverse and there was a sense of camaraderie between all the neighbours that made the pages feel full of warmth and joy.

While I expected a touching story about the friendship between two young misfits, and we got that, it also went beyond that and there were many elements to the plot and setting that I didn't expect to find—from religious to historical and cultural, and I was see it in a MG. I was intrigued by the 80s setting in San Francisco and by the historical event that occurred during the time period of the story. What I found most refreshing though was seeing the Filipino representation in a historical setting and I was pleasantly surprised to read about the migrant journey to America from a different (non-Western) perspective! Etan's Jewish and Maia's Filipina cultural heritage also played important roles in their story and as I grew up in the Philippines, I found reading about Maia's family—her Lola and the food!—was comforting and made me a little nostalgic, too.

I found the friendship that grew between Maia and Etan to be very sweet and full of youthful optimism and joy. As their bond grows closer, Etan finds the strength in his own voice again. Maia also finds joy in being able to have someone her age who doesn't see her as "The Creature" but can look beyond her eczema to the loving, precocious and vibrant little girl she is. I really loved her sass and confidence, as well as her connection to nature and the trees surrounding her home.

Another aspect that I liked (for the most part) was the representation of Maia and Etan's disabilities—severe eczema and selective mutism, respectively. I've never read a book with these disabilities represented (whether it be adult, YA or MG) so I found it interesting to read about and have it be part of these characters. However, what disappointed me was the use of the magical healing clay as a "cure" for these disabilities to make Maia and Etan 'normal happy kids'. It made it seem like people with disabilities are not 'normal' and that you need to look and act like others to be happy. Yes, Maia wasn't 100% 'cured' by the clay but the message is still the same and it's not one that I would want any person to read and believe that they're less than because they have a disability. The topic of mental health was also explored a bit through Etan's mother but I wish it was done in more depth as it impacted Etan and his family so greatly.

Ultimately, while I might not recommend this for its disability rep, I appreciated the historical context and the representation of cultures and the immigrant perspective This was very different from what I expected after reading the blurb but I was pleasantly surprised by the nostalgic vibes it gave me. This did read a bit on the younger side of MG for me but I do think that it would be suitable and enjoyable for MG readers across all ages, even older readers such as myself.

I love a good novel in verse, and this one caught my attention because it is about the San Francisco earthquake in 1989. I grew up in a coastal town a couple hours south of San Francisco and lived through that earthquake; my town was fine but I had lots of classmates and teachers whose houses were badly damaged. It is definitely an event I’ll never forget!

In The Magical Imperfect, we meet Etan and Malia, both of whom get teased a lot. Etan has selective mutism and Malia has such bad eczema that kids call her “the creature.” Set against the backdrop of a (literally) shaking world, this short novel covers a lot of territory -- there’s baseball, alcoholism, religious beliefs, treatment of immigrants, awesome 80s music, and the importance of family and community. I really enjoyed it and it’s definitely one I'll add to my library collection.

This beautiful novel - told in verse - tells the story of Etan, a young boy living on the West Coast during the year 1989. Due to the recent hospitalization of his mother, Etan has become a selective mute, which isolates him from his peers. Feeling more and more lonely, he finds solace working with his grandfather in his downtown shop. When delivering a shopkeeper's order one day he meets Malia, a homeschooled girl who has also been isolated. The two become fast friends, navigating their new friendship, isolation and earthquakes which are increasing in intensity.

I'm a newer reader of novels in verse, and I'm constantly amazed at how the tone and tempo of a story can change so easily with this method of writing. The fear and anxiety of frequent earthquakes was portrayed well with increase of tempo in the poetry. Loved it.

Highly recommend for kids in grades 3 and up.

Thank you to the author, MacMillan and Netgalley for an early copy to review.

Powerful and suspenseful with a heart of gold, THE MAGICAL IMPERFECT is a story of family, friendship, identity, and learning what matters most in life when the ground below your feet feels less than stable! Baron’s free verse is balanced and compelling as it interweaves a range of elements, including selective nonverbal communication and severe eczema, set against a meticulously detailed backdrop of the Bay Area in 1989. I loved the pacing and development of Etan and Malia's friendship and the rich, nuanced details of their respective cultural identities. Readers will be fascinated to learn about the importance of Angel Island, a place that history tends to neglect, as well as the elements of magic stemming from Jewish folklore, which are handled with a caring, light touch that makes the story sing. Be sure to have your 80s playlist and ’89 World Series footage on standby, because your middle grade reader will want to stay in THE MAGICAL IMPERFECT’s world well beyond the last page!

The Magical Imperfect is an incredibly moving verse novel about friendship, family, body image, and community. Set in 1989 San Francisco, this middle grade book highlights the ever changing landscape of a place, especially with immigration and people coming in and out of our lives.

With a protagonist dealing with selective mutism, a character with severe eczema and a parent checking into a mental health facility, this book touches on mental and physical health conditions and how they can affect the way we view ourselves, but also how the best kind of healing we can find is from love, friendship and connection.

This is a beautiful MG novel told in verse about friendship, empathy, and finding your voice. It had a bit of "magic", but all heart.

Thanks to Macmillan Children's, Feiwel & Friends, and NetGalley for a free advanced copy of this title.

This middle-grade novel in verse is a sweet tale of unconditional friendship. Set in a fictional town near San Francisco in 1989, it teaches readers about the earthquake that devastated the area. Additionally, it tells a little about the Angel Island immigration station and the power of community as it relates to immigration. I loved the diversity in the ancestry of the characters as well as the inclusion of a character with a physical difference (severe eczema).

This historical novel in verse tackles deep themes (mental illness, selective mutism, severe eczema, and religion) while engaging the reader in a captivating story that never feels didactic. The friendship between Etan and Malia feels genuine and I loved how the author seamlessly wove hints of magic into a story that in less talented hands might have tended too heavily toward baseball for some readers.