If you're looking for a heartfelt and deeply moving middle-grade, you should read Emily Blejwas' novel. A historical middle grade done well is important and will hopefully make an impact for it's deft handling of grief and sadly real life topics that affect all readers.

Wow, I really hate myself for taking so long to read this.

Middle grade books do not receive enough hype, and they're some of the best books I've read. LIKE NOTHING AMAZING EVER HAPPENED was so beautifully done, weaving together and connecting various elements -- grief and loss, history and how its remembered, friendship, family relationships, and current events -- in a seamless and significant way that I was utterly captivated by. It's a quiet book with SO much richness, depth, and thought-provoking insight.

The author creates such a great voice for the main character, Justin, and manages to craft a narrative that's meaningful and heart-breaking, while still being smartly funny and hopeful. A utterly lovely crafting of story.

I'm definitely going to be getting a copy of this book for myself, and will be recommending it to friends and my social media circles. A beautiful read.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Justin was born just two years after I was. My dad was in the army when I was a kid. He was just slightly too young to have served in Vietnam, but not to have been called a baby killer or spat on by an ignorant idiot as thanks for his Cold War service.

Justin's life was not like mine. But he grew up in the same world that I did. He saw the same things reported in the papers and lived through the same fads and fashions. I really connected to him.

This book is about life, love, loss, happiness, history, and family. It's real life. I loved it.

Purchased for my ya/middle grade collection. A poignant story that addresses serious topics such as grief.

A big thank-you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for giving me a copy of this book for an unbiased review.

4/5 - Really liked it.

This book is beautiful. It’s a simple story of a family burdened by grief and trauma, both due to personal tragedies and tragedies on a larger scale. And yet it’s not a book about sadness. I found myself crying multiple times while reading this, but more often than not, they were tears of happiness. The author has this incredible gift to tackle a topic as heavy as death or grief and to make the reader smile. The relationships in this story are brilliant - the family which withstands loss as one single unit, the forgiveness of a father lost to death and even before that to PTSD, the discovery of comfort in the most unexpected places... It all comes back to a simple reminder - We are all connected, all linked across dimensions and time, all somehow responsible for one another.

My only criticism is that I had a hard time believing this story could be experienced by a seventh grader and this challenged my ability to suspend disbelief. He seemed too adult, too understanding of what is happening, too ready for closure.

That being said, this is an incredible story, one which I can see myself reading over and over again. Tip - for an extra special reading experience, listen to Let Me (Acoustic) by Belle Mt. or Happiness Does Not Wait by Ólafur Arnalds while reading.

This is a beautiful story about a boy who is dealing with so much and is struggling to deal with it all. I loved how the main character said, "When you live in a place where nothing ever happens, you have to make something happen." Great middle grade novel!

Justin doesn't know anything these days. Like how to walk down the halls without getting stared at. Or what to say to Jenni. Or how Phuc is already a physics genius in seventh grade. Or why Benny H. wanders around Wicapi talking to old ghosts. He doesn't know why his mom suddenly loves church or if his older brother, Murphy, will ever play baseball again. Or if the North Stars have a shot at the playoffs. Justin doesn't know how people can act like everything's fine when it's so obviously not. And most of all, he doesn't know what really happened the night his dad died on the train tracks.

A much needed story of loss for older children. Middle school 4-7th grades. Justin father has unexpectedly died and his world no longer makes sense, but there is a wonderful coming together of community that I just found so comforting and wonderful. Like a comfy blanket comforting him, lending him it's strength to get through troubling times. Everyone should be so lucky. Wonderful tale, well written and well told.

Amazingly Honest and Authentic

It's a book of fiction and lots of things happen that are unlikely and convenient. So I don't mean the book is "honest" in a gritty, realistic, slice-of-life way. I mean it is emotionally honest, and it addresses real feelings in a real way, even if the plot has to twist and turn to get us where we need to go.

This has an "It's A Wonderful Life" feel, though not in a sappy or syrupy fashion. That may sound odd when the main opening event in the book is the boy hero's Dad's death, and a lingering question is whether the death was an accident or suicide. But, you have to start somewhere. Every major character is insightful, noble, decent, and good, and Dad's death is the incident that sends everyone to a new level of growth and self-knowledge. A good deal of the narrative is the hero's internal monologue, but he's fine and engaging company, and the approach worked for me.

It didn't seem like the author was going for a "big" effect or a transformative moment for the reader. Indeed, the author's note at the end of the book suggests as much. This is a book about small moments, small insights, little victories, and gentle epiphanies. The writing is crisp, restrained, and pointed, and the flow of the story is surprisingly episodic; all of this contributes to the slow but steady accumulation of telling detail and emotional power.

Apart from being a satisfying read, the book is also a little bit sneaky and a little bit inclined, through its conscious understatement, toward tricking you into insights you didn't see coming. That's elegant and rewarding, and made this an authentic find.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

This was a very mature choice of topics for a children's novel. I would be hesitant to suggest this to some of my 5th graders; it reads closer to YA. This is a heavy topic: PTSD, suicide, alcoholism, so this is for your most mature readers BUT it is very well done.

With the the Gulf War of the 1990's in the background, the Olson family, in small town Wicapi Minnesota, is dealing with their grief over the death of the their husband and dad. As a veteran of the Viet Nam War, he suffered from PTSD, and died in an accident involving the town trolley. Mom adds religion to her work schedule. Older brother Murphy drops HS sports and adds more shifts at KFC to help the household finances. Justin just wants to fly beneath the radar at his middle school, and he find the details of his father's death, something no one has ever discussed. His best friend Phoc, a physics genius, intrigues Justin with the possibility of life and parallel dimensions. All the characters are believable and authentic, but for me, the pivotal character is Barry H, an eccentric who spends time in the library or on a bench at the lake's edge. Justin finds it comforting to talk and listen to Barry H., and Barry H. enjoys educating to Justin about the vibrant Dakota tribe that had inhabited the area, until they were murdered and their culture erased. This knowledge proves to Justin that something amazing had happened in Wicapi. Multicultural story about the importance of one's history, and its preservation for future generations.

This was a very touching middle-grade story about a young boy named Justin who loses his father.
Justin is struggling to reconcile with his father's passing as well as his father's past that was never given to him. His father was a veteran from the Vietnam war who suffered greatly during his service. He spoke very little and was a reserved man, who often spent most of his time thinking. Justin is not only navigating his grief but also the grief of his family and the normal occurrences of 7th grade.

I loved this book it not only touched me but also inspired me to learn more about where I live. Justin is a smart young boy who I actually related to even though I am not a boy nor am I in 7th grade. I recommend this story to everyone. It was touching and heartwarming and made me appreciate those I love to the fullest degree.

At face value, this book has a couple of strikes against it. It has an historical setting which can be a hard sell for middle grade readers. And it doesn't have a strong central plot. The conflict is largely internal, Justin trying to figure out why his dad died and trying to understand things in the world around him. Largely, though, it's reminiscent of Catcher in the Rye. It's mostly just Justin thinking about things and realizing that life is more complex that he'd previously understood. It's about truly seeing things in life around you instead of just accepting the simple explanations. There's some subtle messaging about war, trauma, and cultural conflict but doesn't settle on any distinct message. This means that different readers may come away from it with different messages or gather new ideas on repeat reads.

Major life changes are in this one. I felt so bad for the character. Justin was a great character and I loved his determination to find out what really happened to his family. The friendships that are forged in this one are adorable and the story is one that will get kids who don't love books to read. I loved it although I think it could have been just a tad longer.

The intended audience of this book probably doesn't watch Call the Midwife, which has nothing in common plot-wise. However, the emotional roller coaster was the same--happiness and sadness. I enjoyed the setting but felt the author used a few slang phrases from the present day. Will buy for my library!

A cute and quirky middle grade novel. Set in the Gulf War era, Like Nothing Amazing Ever Happened follows Justin, an awkward and anxious middle schooler coping with the loss of his father. His mother is busy and suddenly loves church, leaving his older brother, Murphy to take care of Justin while also working at KFC to support his family. School isn't much better- although his best friend, Phuc is a physics genius and his wingman, Justin still has no idea what to say to his crush, Jenni and has anxiety just walking down the halls. In fact, Justin worries a lot about things his life, yet, will soon discover that there is beauty in not knowing what the future holds and the surprises that come with it.

This was such a lovely story and makes heavy topics such as PTSD, alcoholism, and anxiety assessible to a younger audience. And I really liked how Blejwas showed the impact of the Vietnam War and loss of a parent. Also, Benny H. was such an interesting character in telling his Dakota stories. The relationships between characters were cute and the ending was uplifting with a touch of bittersweet.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's publishers for providing a free ARC

Emily Blejwas jumps right into the title of her book, Like Nothing Amazing Ever Happened,
with a TPing, (which seems an important thing to read about right now!) In 1991, Murphy, older brother of the protagonist Justin, makes something happen in this place where nothing ever does by TPing the Hornet hockey captain’s house. Right away, Murphy exhibits his ability to smile and mitigate punishment when the cops let him off with a warning and grins of their own.

The book’s seeming quietness belies real issues underneath. The first and primary issue is the recent death of the boys’ father. The known part is that the father was drinking and was killed on the train tracks. The question of whether this was an accident or purposeful bothers Justin along with the whispers and questions of the community around him. As the backstory is developed, one senses the father’s PTSD, adding to the quandary.

Life goes on for Justin and involves a cute, friendly girl named Jenni whom he must learn to talk to, a physics genius friend named Phuc, and a disheveled man named Benny H. who gets a daily handout of a cup of coffee and a doughnut from the bakery. Conversations with Benny about his and the town’s Dakota history attract Justin and gives him an idea for his history project. When Justin learns that the Dakota have sixteen different verbs for home, one feels his empathy at their loss of homeland while he is seeking that feeling of home without his father.

There comes a time when Phuc and Justin find a common analogy in white space like a missing picture in Mr. Bauer’s old slide projector he uses in class. Phuc’s parents have pictures of their youth in Vietnam ending with a photo standing next to the university in Hanoi, but what follows is like a blank white space before their first winter in Minnesota. How did they get from one to the other? Justin realizes that his father also never talked about Vietnam – leaving another white space. Both boys wonder if their parents may have met and whether they would have been on the same side.

Emily Blejwas writes a compelling story that lingers in her readers’ minds afterwards with questions to ask and thoughts about justice and rights.

I loved this book so much. It is so soft and so beautiful. I don't typically love "slice of life" type books, I much more enjoy plot-driven books. But this story was so well written and has such beautiful depictions of grief, PTSD, trauma, and life after the loss of a loved one.

This story reminds you that even though life can take some unexpected turns and come at you hard, it is still a beautiful journey and there is still so much to be thankful for.

One of my favorite parts of this story was the relationship between Justin and his older brother Murphy. Murphy takes over the role of "man of the house" and does it without complaint and does his best to be a good role model for Justin; their banter and open and honest discussions are beautiful.

This is a middle-grade book and I feel that it was a perfect look at grief and healing both for children and adults.

The story of a boy dealing with the untimely death of his father. He gets to know himself better by learning more about the history of his town and learning more about his father at the same time. A sad and gripping tale that will keep readers interested.

There are readers that need books and there are books that need readers. This book is the latter. If you're looking for page turning adventure you won't find it here. If you are looking to quietly glance into someone's heart and soul this is for you. The everyday events of a young boy trying to deal with the lose of his father will slow the pace of your own life in the most delicate way. Children ages 12 and up.