I signed up for this book because the title is so cute. Like always, it's the title that gets us first, right? Then the blurb was interesting enough so I went ahead and signed up for this on Netgalley.

Tumble and Blue sounded like a cute love story to me. But it's not really a love story. It's more of friendship and finding or forging your own path of destiny. Tumble and Blue in this story are teenagers who are both very unfortunate, because they are unlucky in some things in life. And it's not just any luck but it's actually a curse handed down from their ancestors.

This story reminded me of the story--Gone South by Robert McCammon which is also set in a bayou or near a swamp. Like McCammon's story, there is also a mysterious aspect in this story and it's a golden alligator. And like the "Bright Girl in Gone South, the gator has a magical power to change the destiny and life of the person who seek its help. The main characters were also both a boy and a girl, except in McCammon's they were adults and their problems were far darker than Tumble and Blue's were. Also, I think McCammon was a lot darker and sadder in tone and in the whole aspect of the story. This one is for Young Adults and is light and funny at most.

I was fascinated by the different lucks and curses the members of Blue's family have. It's interesting. Some are really not so extraordinary and some are just so funny. Others were more serious and even life-threatening. Blue's curse, if you look at it, in the whole scheme of things is actually a bit serious. Imagine never ever going to experience how to win, even in the most mundane of games like Scrabble, though I like Scrabble, it's not nonsense at all. Or ever win in any sport event or any school contest which is part of every student and teenager's life. It's so sad to contemplate and I do feel sorry for Blue. More so, because of his selfish father. Thanks the book Gods, he is so adorable that all this just happens to be so cute and not really to be taken seriously, if I were in the same age bracket. I wouldn't mind him not winning anything, I would gladly be his friend. I would try to win some for him, if that's the case.

Tumble on the other hand is a similar story yet I find her curse not really a curse at all. At her young age, she doesn't need to save the world. And the fact that her heart just want to rescue and help everyone is just big enough. I think, she doesn't need to worry about saving anyone at all. Let the adults, the firemen and all other rescue teams do it. That's why I think Blue's concern is more serious than hers. And I do understand where she's coming from. I know where she got this notion and strong urge to save the whole world. It's guilt. Accurately, survivor's guilt which is more of psychological than rooted back to the curse. And it's not her fault if she survived, because knowing her kind heart, I think she would have done the saving if she had a choice in it.

When these two combined forces and ended up finding comfort and genuine friendship in each other, it felt like their concerns about the curses were not that earth-shattering after all. With them together, they didn't need to feel like they were unlucky or lacking. They were enough for each other. And in the best of friendships, you don't need to have magical powers or special abilities to find loyalty, you only need to be honest and genuine. Show your true self, including all the bad and the scars. If someone's only friends with you because of the benefits then that's not friendship at all but taking advantage.

I enjoyed this story and it's just right that these two found the strength within to prove to the world that they are not their curse. These two proved that they can change what was supposed to be a destined unfortunate life. They have move from what everyone calls their main imperfection and even turned it around. Tumble saved someone which she thought she could never do. She is after all a hero, in her own way. Then, Blue won. He was the first to reach the golden gator. He won, even if he was supposedly destined to never win in his whole lifetime. They twisted their fates and made an even better one for themselves.

What I like about the story is the one about Tumble hero-worshipping this celebrity who made people think he is a real-life superhero, when in truth he's not. But, I forgive Tumble because what drove her was her desperation, and at her young age, she needed someone to look up to. It's just unfortunate because she did not see right through that person. Good thing she eventually found out that he was not worthy of any praise or emulation or anything at all.

I give the book 4/5 gators. This is a story of the underdogs. The story is a reminder that we can be more than what people expect us to be. That we can prove people wrong. That we are more than what our inheritance, family and everything else that we are. That we can be different from what people see our family, we can be better, stronger and kinder. We can be everything we dream of and we should not let the world and people to limit us, shape us, or box us or stop us. This is an inspiring story especially for teenagers who are in the stage of confusion and they feel like they are pulled from all directions. This tells us to just listen to our heart and let's not conform to what the world forces us to be. Let us be what we dream and not because of what people tell us what we can't be.


Another curiosity of the human imagination--this idea that you can un-break something. Piece the fragments of shell together and put the egg back in its nest if you like. What's inside will never fly.
- Cassie Beasley, Tumble and Blue -


Thank you, Netgalley and Cassie Beasley for the copy.

Swamp magic: Cassie Beasley weaves family and fate in 'Tumble & Blue'

You’re not alone if you considered Cassie Beasley’s debut novel, “Circus Mirandus,” a bit more than magical. A chart-topping best-seller on almost every major list that tracks such things, and owner of multiple awards and honors that all include the words, “best children’s book of 2015,” Beasley’s Dahl-esque offering touched the magic in readers far beyond the “ages 8 and up” audience to which it was marketed.

Now, with another wave of the pen, she’s gone one better. “Tumble & Blue” (Dial Books), her sophomore offering, will charm readers young and old with a story every bit as marvelous as her first.

Abandoned by his father to his large family in rural Georgia, 12-year-old Blue Montgomery knows he is cursed — as are many of his family members, at least the ones who don’t possess a special talent that has made them wildly successful.

As the story goes, both curses and talents arose from a generations-old meeting in the Okefenokee Swamp between two relatives and a mystical alligator who has the task of dispensing one great fate during a special blood red moon. As the time of that moon is apparently approaching, all of the cursed relatives descend on the family home in Murky Branch, Ga., in hopes of being the one who can connect with Munch and change their fate. Add to this story a new next-door neighbor, Tumble, a young female hero in training, and magic ensues — some truly mystical, and some of Tumble’s and Blue’s own making.

“Tumble & Blue” publishes on Aug. 29, but Beasley agreed in advance of publication to take a few questions from Mountain Times about her new book, what it’s like to live with an author sister as famous as herself and what she finds most special about interacting with the children — and adults — who read her stories.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Tom: Your books, both “Circus Mirandus” and now, “Tumble & Blue,” seamlessly infuse magic into the reality of an everyday world that reminds me strongly of Roald Dahl’s best works. Where did you find the inspiration for the story that became “Tumble & Blue?”

Cassie: First of all, thank you for telling me I remind you of Roald Dahl, for that's a huge compliment. For "Tumble & Blue," it really started with Blue's half of the story. I was writing something else and I suddenly had this voice in my head, and it was this boy named Blue who was telling me about how he had been left in this small town in Georgia that he wasn't familiar with, in a house full of his own relatives who were really oddballs, and he didn't really know them.

I started from there, and I realized pretty soon that his relatives weren't just odd, they were actually cursed — because I'm a huge fantasy fan and I always hook up with magic in my stories, even when I'm trying to write real-world stuff.

So, he was there with all these cursed relatives, and I found out he was cursed, too. It was kind of just a gradual development into this story and one day, about six months in, I was writing and this little girl came into the story, and she wanted to save the whole world, starting with Blue. At that point I realized I had to start over, that it was a story about two different characters and it was a friendship story. That's the development of it.

Tom: Much of the story centers on the concepts of curses and talents. Does believing in one mean that we must believe in the other? In other words, if we accept that humans have individual gifts, say for singing, does that mean that we accept that others who are less gifted may be cursed? And, can you even answer this question without giving too much of the story away?

Cassie: Wow, that's a really hard question, deep and philosophical. I don't feel in real life that people are necessarily cursed. Sometimes you can feel that way when things go badly for you time after time after time. But, that's part of the fantasy element of my book, the idea that everyone has different hard stuff in their lives. I don't think I would call it a curse in real life.

Tom: Another predominant theme is the concept of heroism. I love the idea of “Tumble” being a “hero in training.” What does it mean to be a hero?

Cassie: For Tumble, she is really focused on the idea of helping people who can't necessarily help themselves. For her, being a hero is totally about helping others, being selfless, willing to sacrifice things you want for what other people want. And, I love that about her character. My own definition of heroism would be pretty similar. There is an element of bravery to it, of course, but for me it's really about the selflessness and the willingness to give up some of the things you want to try to help other people.

Tom: So, being a hero means something different for different people. There are many heroes in “Tumble & Blue,” on many different levels. Is it important that the most predominant of those, “Tumble,” is a young girl?

Cassie: It's important to me. We see a lot of great brave, heroic young girl characters these days in middle grade fiction. But, it's the kind of thing that's still really, really important to have. We don't normally think that the young girl can be the firefighter, a young girl can do all of these different things. We don't necessarily think this automatically. Until people start assuming from the get-go that, of course, it could be a girl, then it's still important to have that kind of character in our fiction.

Tom: There’s a lot of wisdom imparted through the characters in this story, especially in the voice of the grandmother. In speaking of heroism, she offers an understanding and compassion to those whose actions don’t always seem heroic. Of course, I’m thinking of Blue’s father, although the desertion of his son may be the best thing that could have happened to Blue. Did you mean to write a story in which there is no true villain?

Cassie: This was always a novel where there were going to be a lot of shades of gray to the characters. Probably the closest thing to a bad guy is Maximal Star, actually. You go through the whole book thinking he's going to be this great person, and he's actually just really, really lame. There's nothing to him.

I always knew that Blue's dad was going to be more complicated then it initially seemed. As an adult, when you read the first chapter and you are introduced to him, you think, this is just horrible. He just dumped his kid for no good reason. But then you think about it, and you start to realize that he's actually having a crisis where he realizes he's not the best person he can be, and the best thing he can actually do for his son is to leave him with family who are good people and are going to take good care of him. I feel like, down the road, Blue's dad is really growing as a person and maybe that's going to work out happily in the end.

Tom: I guess that kind of makes Blue’s dad a hero in his own way, doesn’t it?

Cassie: Yes. It was really hard for him to do. You get the idea in the book that he really did love Blue, but as a parent he really doesn't have the skills he needs and he's just starting to realize it.

Tom: Something else the novel centers on is the concept of fate. Both Tumble and Blue arguably alter their fate through their bravery, compassion and unselfishness. Is this the recipe for personal success?

Cassie: It's really important for me, and in the story, that even if you feel like there's something you can't change about yourself, there is still a value in reaching for that thing you really want, that seems to be impossible. It's really wonderful that both characters, Tumble and Blue, even after they realized that they were really cursed and there is really something wrong in their lives, keep trying, they don't give up. That's a huge lesson that's been really helpful in my life.

Tom: I don’t want to leave without speaking more about the mystical alligator, Munch, dispenser of fate once in a blood red moon. As a sometimes narrator, his voice changes the tone of the story and gives it a darker turn. But, is Munch really a dark character, or is he one who has simply accepted his own fate and is now an impartial observer of the human condition?

Cassie: Oh my gosh, I so love that you read the book because you ask the best questions. You got it exactly right. So, the kids kind of, through the whole book, think of Munch as like, the villain. He's the one responsible for the curse. But Munch sees himself as almost this force of nature, this is just what he is and what he does. You've got it exactly right. If anybody in the book has accepted his fate, it's him. He sees himself as really not having the power to make a decision himself, he's just there because that's his function in the universe to dispense the great fate.

Tom: You have a sister, Kate Beasley, who is a successful children’s author in her own right (most recently, “Gertie’s Leap to Greatness” reviewed in Mountain Times at goo.gl/k8YQ2B). Do you interact with each other during the writing process?

Cassie: Yes, we live together, and she is my writing partner so she reads every single thing I write. She critiques my work and I critique hers. There's really nothing like it, having a sister who will be really, really honest with you without worrying about that you're going to run away. We are both good at slightly different things in our writing so I know that when I give my work to her, she's going to pick out totally different problems than I would've seen, myself. And, I hope she feels the same way when I'm reading her stuff.

Tom: You have a tour planned to support “Tumble & Blue” that includes a number of school visits. What do you find most satisfying about interacting with children who read your books?

Cassie: I'm heading to the Mississippi Book Festival this coming weekend (Aug. 19). Then I will have a national school visit tour. I will be heading to Houston, and Jackson, Miss., and North Carolina to Raleigh and Tallahassee.

My favorite thing is when I get a letter from a reader and they tell me that my story made them think differently about something, or that my story made them want to be a writer or that they really loved reading it and they don't usually love reading books.

That's the most special, when you hear from one of those kids who never really enjoyed a book before and they tell you yours is the one they really read for the first time by themselves and loved it.

Some of those kids keep writing, so I've got about four or five kids who send regular emails to keep me updated and stuff. It's so special because I never anticipated when I became an author that you would kind of develop a relationship with somebody's kids through your stories. You hope, as an author, that your book will make someone love reading as much as you do.

Tom: And, of course, you don’t get to the top of the best-seller lists without having a good number of adult readers. What kind of comments do you get from your older readers, and what do you find most rewarding from those interactions?

Cassie: I'm really glad grownups enjoy my books. I personally love children's literature, middle grade literature, picture books, all of it. The feedback that has been the most helpful for me from the adult audience is knowing that people find children's books important — because I think there is sort of a feeling that some people have like, “Oh, it is just a children's book." But when you hear from an adult reader who says the lesson in this book applies to my own life and it feels really, really true to me, and I'm 40 or 50 years old, there's something special about that.

I love when I get a letter from my family, where they read aloud together. That's the best. That's just so cool because that was a really important part of growing up for me. My mom and my sister and I would read aloud to each other. So, whenever I get a letter from a family, that's really special.