Member Review

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and Brittani and Kristen from Algonquin Books for sending me an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.


Magical realism isn't really my thing, if I have to be honest - so getting the whole idea of someone turning into a naked mole rat was something it took time to adjust to.

One of the main characters is kit - kit written in lower case because before she was even born, "keep-it-together" was her mom's mantra.
And her mother needed to believe it - she was a pretty famous singer with a hit song still playing on the radio, but then her anxiety and her fears got the best of her and now she can't even leave her house.
kit loves her and she knows she has to be strong for her, but sometimes she gets frustrated - it would be nice being taken care of for once in a while and she's also afraid to become like her mom someday.

kit has always been small - so small her mother called her "her baby naked mole rat". And one day she turns exactly into one.
It happens on the day she sees her best friend Clem falling while performing an acrobatic routine with her family on a talent show - at first kit believes in a hallucination, but it keeps happening when she's stressed or afraid.
kit can't even talk about it with Clem because after the falling and the many broken bones, Clem isn't herself anymore - now she's sarcastic, with black clothes and black make-up, lying about the way she really feels and why she fell.

Both girls keep secrets and kit wonders why can't she turn into a bird to fly away from everything or into another animal much stronger or more beautiful?
What a naked mole rat can possibly do? Can it really be the answer to everything?


I was fond of kit, but Clem was definitely my favorite because I saw so much of my younger self in her.
I got all the darkness, her being mad and wearing all black, her lying and the way she was sometimes mean with those around her.
I got everything about the way she felt once she found out about a grandfather she never knew existed - because the one she's known all her life isn't the biological one.
I got her obsession because it was the same as mine when I found out the same thing so many years ago - I have a grandfather and an uncle I never got to know and it's like missing a piece of a family puzzle: who could I have been if they were in my life?

Magical realism isn't my thing, but I liked the friendship and the issues between kit and Clem and their personal growth.
Other characters are well written and developed, but I admit it was difficult for me getting into the story in the beginning - I felt myself involved only in the second half of the book.

Since it's a middle grade, the issues presented in this book could have been less in number - less and better developed.
Because topics like mental illness, mass suicides, parents leaving their child behind when they find someone else, animals being put down if not adopted are definitely tough and they need to be well-crafted for the readers - especially if the book is a middle grade.
Nonetheless it was a nice reading and it sure is a particular book - the whole turning into a naked mole rat is left without an explanation and the scenes kit spends as that animal aren't as many as you think they would be.
So yeah, if you are into magical realism I think you'll feel a little bit disappointed - you have a feel something is left unfinished and I liked better other aspects of this book.