Wow. Well, wow. This was a powerful book, and I can see why it was shortlisted.

In Trowbridge Road, two neighbors become unlikely friends. Junebug mourns a father who died of AIDs and a mother who obsessively cleans, refuses to cook or eat, and never leaves the house. Ziggy worries about his mother going back to an abusive boyfriend that has hurt them both. They start protecting each other from bullies, But when Junebug is forced to open up about her home life, as her uncle notices that there's no food in the house, there may be some problems too big for kids to handle.

I admit, this story has a poignant pace and prose to it. And it's a haunting tribute to older times, while outlining how parents can decline due to grief and trauma. It's not an easy read, but it is a necessary one.

One of my favorite middle grade books I read in 2021. The whole time I read this historical novel I wished I was reading it to students; it has a timeless narrative quality. I think it may be a good entry point for discussing the history of HIV/AIDS, as well as OCD and grief. It’s beautiful.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for giving me the opportunity to review this book. I admit in my joy at joining NetGalley I may have been overzealous in my requesting numbers. As this book has already been published, I am choosing to work on the current upcoming publish date books in my que. As I complete those I will work on my backlogged request and will provide a review at that time. I again send my sincere thanks and apologies.

Wow, this book hit hard. I should be used to middle grade books dealing with heavier themes but apparently I'm not used to suffering this much reading about kids trying to live in a world full of obstacles and darkness they shouldn't be facing by themselves at such a young age.

Two unlikely friends bonding and being there for each other while having to live situations they didn't deserve. It was a hard read for sure, but it was also magical thanks to the kids and the world they created for themselves.

Maybe not for everyone, but this book will definitely make you wonder and suffer in equal measure.

It is the summer of 1983 and June Bug Jordan watches Ziggy Karlo arrive at his grandmother's house. June Bug is filled with longing for a friend, an adult to love and care for her, and for something to eat. After June Bug's father died from AIDS, her mother slipped into depression and intense germaphobia and now she refuses to leave the house or cook any food and obsessively cleans everything with bleach. When Ziggy, also lonely and feeling abandoned by his mother, notices June Bug watching him, the two escape to their own imaginary, magical world called "the ninth dimension" where they are able to be in charge of their own lives for a change.

This is a heartrending story about two outcast children struggling to find a loving place to belong. This book is reminiscent of Katherine Paterson's BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA and deals with really difficult topics in an open and honest way. June Bug and Ziggy are lovable children who don't fit in with the kids on their idyllic block and painfully learn what it is like to be abandoned by parents, luckily Ziggy's grandma Nana Jean and June Bug's uncle Toby are caring adults yearning to step in and love the children. This is an emotional book appropriate for mature young readers ready to handle to subject matter.

This is a truly hard book to rate. It deals with an obviously painful part of modern history, mental illness, and children trying to come of age and survive in a world with parents who are not in the right state of mind to take care of them. I enjoyed this book but the writing occasionally fell flat, especially some of the dialogue, but I think this would be a good book to talk to older middle school/younger high school kids about the AIDS pandemic.

Such an important book about dealing with a parent who is going through a mental illness and the grief felt by the family. June Bug Jordan tries to escape her mother's declining mental health and makes the most unexpected friendship where they retreat into a pretend world.

Always have difficulty with books that adults just are so blind to what is happening to a child, the abuse that can occur. June Bug is trying to reach out as her mom, who was mentally ill even before her husband's death, is completely obsessed by getting clean and makes her take bleach baths. She finally befriends Ziggy who's own mother has "abandoned" him to his grandmother. June Bug and Ziggy find a world together much like in Bridge to Terabithia. Uncle Toby just doesn't see how bad the situation is but Ziggy's Nana starts to step in. June Bug responds to the kindness of Nana which makes the reader happy. Husband died of AIDS which means he was homosexual so wife had to deal with that also. It was in the 80's when not much was understood about AIDS.

This definitely merits comps to 'Bridge to Terabithia.' Pixley weaves together heartache and wonder in a convincing and compelling way, through June Bug's resonant voice. Reading the novel during our current pandemic made the themes of illness, isolation, fear, and obsession so much more potent.

Set in the summer of 1983 in the suburbs of Boston, Trowbridge Road is a heartaching look at dysfunctional families. June Bug is a girl who's just lost her father to AIDS, and her mother is terrified of the germs that are just waiting to infect them. June Bug escapes her home every day and sits in the tree outside Nana Jean's house to watch Nana and Ziggy, a boy about her age, left by his mother as she works out her own troubles. June Bug imagines life with Nana Jean's love and comfort, and heads home every day to be subjected to her mother's dangerous germ phobia. Ziggy discovers June Bug in the tree, and the two become friends, imagining themselves imbued with magic. The two bond and escape reality together every day, and eventually, Nana Jean cares for June Bug like she's one of her own. Families deal with secrets, pain, and loss in this gorgeously written book, which brilliantly and frankly shines a light on trauma, mental illness, and AIDS: particularly the misinformation about the disease in its earliest days. The characters have incredible depth and pathos, and themes of family, addiction, sickness, and bullying are all deeply explored. Magical storytelling and characters you want to see be happy make this essential reading. Back matter includes an author's note about AIDS and HIV and mental health. Publisher Candlewick has a discussion guide, note from the author, and a sample chapter available for download.

Trowbridge Road is on the longlist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. It has a starred review from Kirkus.

June Bug has a backpack filled with all the utensils and other supplies she needs to be clean enough to go back in her house. Her life is a never ending routine of cleaning and disinfecting -- to the point that she has burn marks from sitting in scalding bleach baths. It is 1983 and June's father is dead from AIDs. Her mother has fallen off the razor's edge of her creative genius and is obsessed with cleanliness to the point that all other needs are forgotten. Fortunately for June she has her Uncle Toby bringing groceries and her new friend Ziggy down the street. June Bug and Ziggy create their own secret universe in an abandoned cellar and escape the problems in their worlds. This would be a great book for a kid to read aloud with a parent or teacher as there are many issues to unpack including AIDs, mental illness, bullying, physical abuse, alcoholism and more. One of my favorite scenes is Ziggy's mom pouring out her heart to God in a prayer before breakfast. I also loved this quote: " . . .the last rays of the setting sun slanting light across the old wooden table like an angel spreading its wings."

Thank you to Candlewick Press and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Trowbridge Road by Marcella Pixley; Candlewick Press, 304 pages ($17.99). Ages 10 to 14.

June Bug spends much of her time up in a tree watching the neighbors, a refuge from home where her mother, a gifted cellist and former concert musician, stays in bed all the time except when she is obsessing about scouring and disinfecting the house. (Her husband, June Bug's father, had recently died of AIDS.) Then long-haired, weird Ziggy– whose single mom is in an abusive relationship – arrives to stay with his grandmother, and June Bug and Ziggy become friends, finding refuge in each other and in a world of make-believe in the farm behind Ziggy's grandmother's house.

Pixley offers a compelling, heart-rending novel of a child dealing alone with her mother's serious mental illness while also spotlighting the tragedy of the early 1980s when the virus known as HIV had just been identified and much misinformation circulated about AIDS.

"Trowbridge Road" is longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

How does anyone tell a story when there are so many beginnings to choose from?

Some of the things a hurting child needs.

The gift of everydayness
Sandwiches and hugging
Magic long hair
Moms to be healthy
Love that sticks
Not to worry
The world not on their shoulders
Not to be given up on

June Bug has she is called sees everything on her street of Trowbridge Road. She watches the strange red haired boy with his ferret who introduces her to a magical world. Two hurting children June and Ziggy have a hard reality that is softened by magic.

Sometimes telling the truth makes you weary.

June Bug and Ziggy are going thru difficult family circumstances that they reach out to each other and create a 9th dimension, a place to escape reality. As a parent, if my children would want to read this, I would like to be in the conversation. There is some hard hard stuff. The complexities of life and human nature. It is the author's attempt to give a voice to the voiceless to children that love their broken parents. That secrets and shame only destroy and finding someone to share your fears will only help and give hope. If you see your child reading this one, read it with them. Ask them what they think and how they can help others like Ziggy and June.

A special thank you to Candlewick Press and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

June Bug and Ziggy have been deeply damaged by the mothers they love and protect. Ziggy’s feckless mother Jenny has dropped him off with his Nana Jean, who lives near June Bug on Trowbridge Road. During the long summer days, when June Bug is escaping her mother’s terrifying obsession with germs and refusal to eat, she’s intrigued by Nana Jean’s loving welcome, by Ziggy’s long red hair and his pet ferret. There’s a bit of a Bridge to Terebithia feel to the imaginary world Ziggy and June Bug create together as their friendship grows, which gives June Bug courage to tell Nana Jean the ways that her mother’s grief and mental illness are making life impossible for June Bug.

This is a beautifully written book. Writers workshop teachers can use the first few chapters to examine the way point of view is established and there’s excellent description and incorporation of magical realism.

This manages to be heartwrenching and heartwarming at the same time. It's a deeply human story and it made me feel more things than I expected.

I received this ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

June Bug Jordan keeps watch over the neighborhood from her perch on the copper beech tree. When Ziggy's mom drops him off at Nana Jean's, she's instantly captivated by this strange boy with the long red hair, and the albino ferret dancing around his shoulders. The two are fast, if unlikely, friends - something they both desperately need. Each is keeping secrets from home lives others can't imagine.

There were portions of this book that were hard to read. My heart broke for June and my stomach lurched as I read some of the cleaning rituals. I am so grateful for the real Uncle Tobys and Nana Jeans of the world.

I loved this poignant and heart wrenching story. It's well written and you cannot help feeling for the characters and their sufferance.
There's a lot of heavy topic in this story (AIDS, homosexuality, mental issues) but there is also friendship and hope.
It moved me to tears and it made me smile, it was an engrossing and fascinating read.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This is a pre-teen, middle school book that addresses difficult issues of mental illness, AIDS, loneliness, and hunger. After her father dies of AIDS, June Bug's mother retreats into herself and creates complicated rituals of cleanliness and isolation. When Ziggy, another kid moves in down the street, June Bug befriends him. Together, they create a magical world where they can both be happy.

This was a well written book. It addressed difficult issues in a relatable and sympathetic way. Although I felt very sad after reading the book, I think it will be an important read for younger teens. Overall, 4 out of 5 stars.

“Trowbridge Road” is just painfully exquisite. The author, Marcella Pixley, does a fantastic job of weaving trauma with childlike wonder, light and imagination, in a way that is just simply magnificent. This middle-grade read is difficult to read, and I cried as I read about what June Bug endures, and learned about what her new best friend, Ziggy, and his family have gone through as well. This story presents mental illness, the unknown aspects of AIDS in the 80s, abuse, and so much more in such an honest and difficult way, and I truly appreciate that. Yet, Pixley shows us that the truth is complicated, and that love can be there in the midst of it.

June Bug’s Dad has recently died of AIDS and her mother is suffering from a mental breakdown, as things that she always struggled with have come to the surface with a vengeance. June is scarcely fed, and if she is it is only because her wonderful uncle has brought food. There are so many painful things that June deals with, due to her mother’s mental state, but she loves her mother dearly, and her mother truly does love her, although she is incapable of taking care of her.

Ziggy now lives with his grandmother, and can relate to June so well because he has experienced his own hardships at home with his mother Jenny. Jenny too loves Ziggy but is unable to care for him as she should. Ziggy has been bullied relentlessly and wants nothing more than to be loved for who he is. The friends understand each other on a level that few could, and found each other when both needed a friend so badly. They create a magical make believe world together and it is extraordinary to see their love and compassion for one another.

“Trowbridge Road” is an exceptional and important read, but it is heavy and sad. The love of friends and family does shine through, and I loved this book so much.

A beautifully written and ultimately hopeful book, though at times deeply sad, this novel demonstrates the way that life can be redeemed by friendships and found family. June Bug's father has died of AIDS, and her mother is sunk in grief. June is hungry all the time. Then one day a boy, who has problems of his own, comes to stay with his grandmother; the two children become friends and help each other forget their troubles through story-telling and play. I very much enjoyed the under-stated way the author dealt with various tough issues. I confess, though, to having a very slight feeling of being over-whelmed with all the different social problems; on the other hand, the author reminds us that very few families are as secure and happy as they may appear on the surface. So, although Pixley doesn't flinch from showing the damage that grief, mental illness and other issues can cause, ultimately the message is hopeful. Through caring and reaching out to others, children and their parents can make it through.