Read for blog tour. The Whispers is a unique middle grade read that's part mystery and part the protagonist's journey to discovering himself, his family, and his approach to love.

I enjoyed this book. It was a sweet magical tale that made me love the main character.

We are introduced to Riley at the very beginning and dive into his life. He is dealing with the mysterious disappearance of his mom, his sudden habit of waiting the bed that only came after his mom disappeared and what he calls his condition, which is in reality his sexual orientation. Riley doesn’t struggle to understand that he doesn’t like boy, it’s more of an understanding of why people still find it weird that he would rather kiss boys than girls and why his feelings were more persuading towards boys like Dylan than girls like Susan. Although I cannot speak to the experience of the queer protagonist, it still makes me think of every kid’s first journey into the emotion of something much more deeper than friendship. I loved how Riley developed as a character because he was able to be multi-faceted throughout the story.

The writing was AMAZING! I couldn’t believe how beautiful everything felt as I read it.  The Whispers were written as whimsical, mysterious and fantastical. It was a pure story of holding on to the things you believe even if no one else wants you to continue believing them. But also, it gave me the message that to believe in yourself.  We were in the mind of Riley learning about all the clues that led up to his mother’s disappearance, the change in family structure, his search for father’s love, the longing feeling that his mother left him and the fire within him to find his mother. This middle grade was a great story of self-discovery and it captivated all the feelings Riley was facing. I have to admit that I did get emotional throughout this story. I wanted to nurture Riley and let him know that his hope and belief in the Whispers was valid and who he was is valid.

I cannot say enough about how great this story was written. I will note some content/trigger warnings: Homophobic verbal behavior form classmates as I think this is important to mention.

Loved this book! Such a sweet story of growing up, finding yourself, and forgiveness! Fair warning, get your tissues ready for this one! I was not prepared for the emotions this bittersweet story gave me.

I’d like to thank Penguin Random House for including me in the blog tour for Greg’s new release. My review is completely honest.

Riley is a little boy that believes in magic, especially the Whispers. They are fairies that will grant wishes, just as long as you leave tributes. Naturally, as a young boy, he has a lot of wishes. What he wants is his mom back. She’s been gone for too long and he believes they are the only ones that can help him.

The one thing that shocked me about this book is that Riley is a gay character, especially at his young age. In my opinion, there is not enough of that in children’s literature, so it was nice and refreshing to see Riley’s character like this. He is an exceptional child and I absolutely loved his character growth and his imagination.

Riley lives in a religious town in South Carolina and he is still trying to figure himself out. He is surrounded by homophobic comments, bullying and lack of inclusion. This is that typical town you might read about way back when that prefers a certain type of person. Riley stands above that in his own way. He has his own point of view and I just loved his mind.

His adventure is from the viewpoint of his mind and it’s fascinating watching the adventure in this way. I had fun and I felt somewhat emotional reading this story. I don’t think it’s easy to find children’s literature like this nowadays. Especially back when I was growing up. What’s really a relief is that we are seeing a new evolution of children’s literature and I do feel like Greg’s new work will help bring children’s literature into a new light.

As for young readers alone with this story, it might take some urging to get them interested in the story. However, from personal experience, young readers are getting smarter and The Whispers is a book that I’m sure they’ll pick up instantly.

CW: bullying, anti-gay terminology/homophobia, child abuse, animal death, talk about segregation behavior

Riley has a strong belief in the Whispers: fairies that will grant you your heart's desire if you offer a tribute. He needs to believe in them because his mama has been missing for months now and if he doesn't believe...what then?

Greg Howard's middle grade debut novel was a well written, heart breaking example of how sometimes the belief we hold on to is all we have in the face of something far more devastating, but that processing, growing up, whatever you want to call it, is also possible.

There was an expectation I had about The Whispers going into reading it and while I might have held onto them for awhile, when Riley was telling us about his Mama singing to him, the games they would play, and the stories she would share with him, it wasn't long before a sense of foreboding took over.

While Riley has a sense of wonder and a belief in the fantastical, there's also 

This was a good, solid read that I kept wanting to pick up, even when I had to set it aside for other tasks. Even when I thought I knew where the story was going (that sense of foreboding I mentioned? yeah, it only gets stronger as you go), I had to know for sure. I had to know how Riley was going to figure things out: how he was going to handle living with his dad, who seemed to hate him since Mama vanished; his classmates, who teased him for liking stuff he "shouldn't" like; his crush on his nextdoor neighbor, Dylan. There's a lot going on beneath the surface for Riley and while he might seem single minded, there's also a lot of confusion boiling up inside that creates tension for him and whoever's reading about him.

Riley's life in a South Carolina town is complex. He's eleven years old and figuring things out, such as how he feels about those around him, particularly who he wants to kiss. This is complicated by the sermons he hears at church and what the Brothers and Sisters from church say when they think he can't hear. From an adult perspective, it was even more heartbreaking to realize what they meant and I wanted to shake these people for being so cruel to a child.

There's also an interesting method of storytelling wherein Riley sees things from a certain point of view. Some readers might be able to guess at particular plot points in advance and thereby guess as the story progresses, but if not, at the end you can look back and see how Riley's perspective and that of those around him differ and makes it almost like there were two stories going on simultaneously. 

The emotional impact of The Whispers cannot be understated. It's quite good and I think there will be quite an audience for it. I'm not sure if the writing style will be for everyone in the middle grade audience because as much as I liked it, I'm not 100% that younger readers will stick with it through the early stages. I'd certainly encourage them too, though, because it's well worth it. Provide tissues, though, for the finals scenes and readers of all ages.

This was a decent story yet kept me longing for more meat to it. I read with eagerness, hoping for something more. Luckily, the ending completely explained and redeemed everything— that made it all worthwhile. It was very sad but helped the story make more sense.