I really loved The Brave by James Bird. It is super special for a number of reasons. For sure, I loved a story involving Native Americans and life on the reservation - especially for the middle grades. Also, as a teacher, having a book that shows a kid with neural differences in a loving and accepting environment makes my heart sing.

Collin has an OCD tendency of counting letters when people speak and replying with the number of letters that were spoken. When he gets in trouble at his school and is asked to leave yet another school, his father decides to send him to live in Minnesota with his mother. Collin has never met his mother before who is Ojibwe and lives on a reservation. While staying with his mother, Collin meets his new neighbor, Orenda who opens his eyes to a whole new world.

I loved Collin's relationship with Orenda and his mother, both relationships were so sweet and heartwarming. At times, this book really gets you all in the feels so beware of the tears! There is also magical realism in the book which I usually hate BUT this is one of the rare books I loved that has a good amount of it. The writing was also beautiful and the pacing of the book was perfectly done.

Honestly WOW! This is probably my favorite middle grade book I've ever read, it definitely reads more like a YA book though. It's a book that everyone from kids to adults can read and enjoy so don't think you're too old to read it!

Collin is a 13-year-old boy whose neurodiversity manifests through counting all letters that are spoken to him. This leads to a life of being bullied and neither the many schools nor his alcoholic father do anything to help.
His life changes when Collin is sent to live with his mother and grandmother on the lands of the Ojibwe near Fond du Lac, Minnesota. Suddenly his world is filled with love and acceptance, family and magic.
His problems don’t evaporate. He is still bullied at school, and his neighbor Orenda has her own challenges that Collin struggles to accept. The topics discussed can be a little tough at times, but at all times the language and story are beautiful, relatable and inspiring.
I am knocking off a star because Collin's counting tic is magically cured through a ritual. All the personal growth and family/community support become irrelevant, when magic washes away the issue. An ending that supports the point that he is fine just the way he is would have been much more appropriate.
The audiobook was narrated very well and makes the story enjoyable.
I was provided a copy of the audio book by NetGalley and am providing my honest review.

This book was beautiful. The characters were amazing and unique and I easily fell into their world. I loved the bits of magic thrown in here and there. Beautiful, beautiful story and a great narrator.

This book surprised me with the degree of mysticism. I was expecting the standard "fish out of water" sort of tale, though I began to think that might not be the case with the introduction of the grandmother. What we get here is a sort of magical realism. Its firmly rooted in the world as we know it but with magical elements: spirits, vision quests, and the world beyond our own. At heart, this is a story of a boy learning to be comfortable with himself in all his aspects and to accept life changes in every form, even when they are painful.

DISCLAIMER: i am not of native descent (the author is!), so i am not an authority on the representation or lack thereof found in this book. i will recommend that, instead of reading on, whoever looks at review takes my words with a big hunk of salt and finds other reviews by those of native descent.

a promising beginning devolves into a stereotypical "sick girl transforms the male main character and helps him learn and grow."

this book confused me. i loved the beginning, but as i kept listening, i became more and more disgruntled with the story until it was over and i was left dissatisfied. the characters made no sense. many of the ojibwe characters felt like they fell into the "wise native" stereotype. furthermore, there were several plot points that left me frustrated, such as: not a single adult taking the bullying of a child with a disability seriously, the grandmother consistently locking her grandson out of the house in the cold and no one thinking that's weird, the grandmother taking her grandson's support animal for weeks at a time and no one thinking *that's* weird, the treehouse with only a rope as an entryway where a middle-school-aged girl sleeps in overnight by herself in the middle of winter and no one thinking THAT'S weird, the father of said girl magically building entire structures overnight, two middle-school-aged children stealing a car and all the adults just laugh it off, etc.

i couldn't tell where real ended and mystical began and it threw off my entire reading experience. i did love the beginning though...

thank you to netgalley and dreamscape media feiwel & friends for an audio arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautiful middle grade story about a boy who has OCD. He has a condition where he finds himself counting every letter that is spoken to him. It is a quirk that makes him a Target for Bullys. After requesting to go to yet another school Collins Dad who has never really been accepting of his condition decides to send him to live on a reservation with his biological Mom. Collin and his Dad have never been close. It was almost like they just learned to coexist together and thats it. Collin very quickly learns that the people on the reservation are a lot more understanding of his condition. He begins to make friends and overcome his fears. He starts to become BRAVE.

I absolutely loved this book. As a mom to a child who is autistic, has ADHD and anxiety I could relate. I also have anxiety and ADHD so I was able to relate to it for myself as well.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for my gifted copy.

I cannot, in good conscience, give a good review to the audiobook. You see this book has a message that readers are supposed to hunt for in the physical book and the audiobook still asks the reader to go back and search for underlined letters in the book. How are we supposed to do that?

The story was itself is lovely, but the audiobook really missed the mark at the end.

Collin is a teen struggling with a form of OCD that turns even the simplest of social interactions into an exhausting feat of counting and repeating. He is the target of many bullies, not just in the proverbial schoolyard but also in the form of his frustrated father. Collin's journey with the reader really begins when, finally having enough, his father eventually sends him to live with the mother he's never known in Minnesota on an Ojibwe reservation,

I thought this book was something special. Collin was someone I developed a very close attachment to early on, who I was rooting for from the very beginning. The way he experiences life is so unique, and a perspective similar to his is hard to come by in YA/middle-grade fiction. I'd recommend to tweens, teens, and adults alike.

Collin has an OCD tendency of counting letters when people speak and replying with the number of letters that were spoken to him. He has trouble fitting in at school, is bullied, and lives with an alcoholic father who could careless about him. Collin’s father sends him to live with his Ojibwe mother in Minnesota. He’s never met her before but learns of his culture and family. His relationship with his new family and Orenda were heartwarming and sweet. Collin is a sweet child and you feel for him and his pain. You cant help but to root for him so he can find his happiness.

As much as I enjoyed this story, there were a few things preventing it from a five stars rating for me. I found it hard to believe for Collin to immediately be drawn to his mother and getting along with her after going 13 years of never meeting her. I found that a little unrealistic and he didn’t question this much. Same with his mother, she was immediately motherly and telling him to call her “mama” and they didn’t really explain this much. I also thought the representation of OCD was great but after a ritual it was supposedly gone so I’m not so sure how I felt about that either. Overall, I did really enjoy this book and would recommend it to any age.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Dreamscape Media for sending me an audiobook!

A story about a young boy discovering his Ojibwe heritage. Collin is neurodiverse and I felt he was well written. As someone who struggles with things that may be seen as weird or not normal I could feel a connection to Collin and how he feels.I felt this book dealt with A LOT of heavy topics. Racism, bullying, struggles and prejudices against neurodiverse people, broken family, homophobia, child loss, child sickness, death and trauma. It was layers upon layers upon layers of trauma and heavy feelings. I cried more times then I could count... and THEN once all of that beautiful experience was through you got to pick into the cultural inclusion of the Ojibwe peoples and their experiences (some). A middle grade book with heartbreak, hope and literal twists that had my jaw drop.

I was grateful to be recently approved for this audiobook. Unfortunately, just when I was about to start listening, the audiobook was no longer on my NetGalley shelf. Which was too bad, as the reviews were all generally great reviews and I was looking forward to it.

I was interested in how OCD and the Indigenous background was going to come together. It had a great and interesting synopsis.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media. I have enjoyed all other Dreamscape Media audiobooks I have listened to in the past.

The star rating does NOT reflect the quality of the book; I have to give a rating to post this review.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an ALC of this book.

I absolutely loved this book. It was so meaningful and magical, and I absolutely loved Colin's story.

Colin has OCD which causes him to say the number of letters in every sentence that is spoken to him. This is too much for the kids and teachers at his schools in California, and becomes too much for his alcoholic father, who sends Colin to live with his Ojibwe mother whom Colin knows nothing about.

Colin is scared, and angry, and frustrated, and he struggles with his counting and also with accepting his own differences. Through his mother, his newfound connection to his Native American ancestry, and his new neighbor, Colin goes on a mental journey to find acceptance in his own differences and the differences in others that makes everyone beautiful.

This book was gorgeous. I loved the magical realism, the imagery, the many many important life lessons and the heartbreaks as well. I highly recommend this middle grade read!

CW: alcoholism, ALS, death, grief, bullying, abandonment

I loved this book. There was so much beauty presented through the imagery, the struggles, the heartbreak, and the journey as Colin finds himself along the way. Although, that doesn't feel exactly right. It is more like Colin finds a deeper understanding and appreciation for who he is. After finishing this book I am walking away with this overall sense of love and peace.

On a side note, I especially appreciated the different meanings of the title that you find out along the way.

Oh wow. This slow and steady middle grades book is a treasure. As a teacher of 6th graders, I know how rare it is to find positive, hopeful books about Native characters, but The Brave is perfection on these fronts. Collin is an Ojibwe boy who has OCD. At the start of the book, he lives with his dad in California, but because his OCD makes him count and say the number of letters people say to him, he's a social outcast (even his father seems annoyed by him!) and relies on his dog Seven for comfort. Then, everything changes when he moves to Minnesota to live with his mother on a reservation. He immediately feels comforted by the lack of judgment from his maternal family, and finds a friend next door in Orenda, who helps him see the world through new eyes.
This is a story about identity, loss, acceptance, and what it means to have a truly supportive relationship. I would DEFINITELY use this as a read-aloud with my 6th graders.

4.5

Thank you to a NetGalley and the publishers for early access to this gem!

Wow. This was amazing. My expectations for this were pretty low because I don’t think I’ve read a middle grade novel since middle school 17 years ago. But this really blew me away.

“Sometimes Beautiful things don’t need an explanation.”

I loved the message behind everything. I love the Native American representation. I loved the complexity of our main character. I will definitely be following this writer from here on out.

This is a middle grade that is Realistic Fiction has some Magical Realism and Mental Health. We follow Collin that has a mental issues that makes him count the words people say and say the number of words people/he says out loud. He has been raise by his father up until this book starts. He moves in with his mother shortly after the book starts, and he has never see his mother since he was a baby until now. His mother is Obijabwe American Indian. This story is so moving, and I loved this book. There was some parts of this book I did not think needed to be there, but this book was so good. I loved the magical realism parts of this book. I listen to the audiobook of this book, and the narrator brought this book to life. I was kindly provided an e-audiobook of this book by the publisher (Dreamscape Media) or author (James Bird) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review about how I feel about this book, and I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

This novel follows Collin, who counts the letters of every word. Collin’s uniqueness draws the attention of the usual suspects, along with his father.

As Collin is relocated to live with his mother, he meets a friend, Orenda, and proceeds to make me cry repeatedly at the beauty of their friendship- each character learning to overcome obstacles and feel comfortable as the beautiful human he/she is.

As challenges often are in middle grades, Collin must stand up for his friend, along with traverse life with those that challenge you, and those that uplift and make you stronger.

I love that it brings together Native American culture along with mainstream American culture in such beautiful, visually vivid descriptions. Masterfully done James Bird! I loved the audiobook narration, and this will especially be useful in a classroom where students can read and listen to the audio!

This is the BEST middle grade novel and it NEEDS to be on your shelf if you are a teacher, and on the shelf of your middle grade students.

The Brave is such a special middle grade read. Collin has OCD and counts all the letters that are spoken to him. He is often bullied and has been switched to multiple schools, with no one really supporting him in his mental health. Collin's dad breaks the news that Collin is going to live with his mother, who he has never met. Although Collin is apprehensive about this move to Minnesota to the Ojibwe reservation, we see Collin blossom in this coming of age story.

I appreciated Collin's mother challenging his stereotypes of Indigenous Peoples and Collin learning what is harmful and incorrect. He takes in this feedback, processes it, and changes his ways. This book is full of warmth with the love we see between Collin and his mother, and the acceptance from those around him. This is definitely a character driven story that was handled with much care as there are a lot of heavy topics dealt with throughout the book. I particularly appreciated the symbolism throughout the book regarding Collin's mental health. The audiobook narration by Shaun Taylor-Corbett is absolutely fantastic and paired well with the beautiful writing.

I think I might have enjoyed the physical book better than the audio. It was a decent story with important themes. I would recommend for people looking for own voices middle grade fiction.