Sheila Grau’s story about a young farmer boy in a world where everyone has synesthesia, a confusion of the senses, is an intriguing concept, but I thought it was a bit overdone. There’s a sweet spot between too much information and too little, and I felt this book erred on the side of too much. Other than that slight issue, it was a good book and I would recommend it especially for boys who are 12-14 years old.

We received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley.

A lot of things I didn't expect! Synesthesia is an interesting but not too explored topic, especially in children's lit- I can think of A MANGO SHAPED SPACE and THE NAME OF THIS BOOK IS SECRET, but that's about it- so the journey would be interesting even if the story wasn't this well written. Even with the formatting issues in my copy, it was engaging and I had very little critical thoughts, other than a few kind of "eh" moments about some bland twists/plot points. It does a good job introducing a new main character halfway through the book, which can be hard to do, so [thumbs up emoji], and while it's not entirely accurate to DID (due to that whole.. alien thing!) kids are definitely gonna enjoy it and think it's fun. Because it's fun! It's goofy and the plot isn't too heavy, but it holds itself up well enough.