This one is heavy! Zack is dealing with grief and guilt after the death of his sister. Though this emotional read might be hard for some readers, it's rewarding.

Cute and feel good with an important message at its heart, The Einsteins of Vista Poiint manages to combine mystery with motto. The engaging cast and their stories pull at your heart strings yet keep you smiling too. The ideal middle grade book.

Ben Guterson has become the master puzzler in my mind. The way that he weaves puzzles into this book (and others) would have captivated my child-heart and still makes adult-me smile. I also loved the characters and look forward to seeing what the Einsteins get into next!

Heart-wrenching and equally heartwarming, Einsteins is a tale of love, loss, and life itself. A middle grade tale, it tackles deep topics like the death of a sibling and the process of grieving all while masking the worst of the pain with a mystery the main character is trying to solve.

Zack’s sister dies after being hit by a car so his family moves in an effort to move forward and heal. Zack blames himself for his sister’s death because he was watching her when she was killed, which is a heart breaking aspect of the book. The guilt he feels must weigh on him and many children often feel guilt over events they had no control over.

As an adult reading this, some of the twists and turns were more obvious to me sooner, but to a younger reader they will enjoy the subtle mystery and reveals. It wasn't a Nancy Drew sleuth style mystery, but more a story of uncovering secrets and discovery. Think closer to Boxcar Children.

The way Guterson writes about emotions is masterful, along with how he handles the family dynamic and the differences in every individual member's reactions.

Definitely one that should be read, especially by young people who may be on their own journey healing after the loss of any loved one.

Overall

The Winterhouse series is a hugely popular series at my library. Kids can’t seem to get enough of it, and our copy goes out regularly. While I’ve never read it myself, when I saw that the author had a new book coming out, I figured that I should definitely check it out! So here we are.

The Einsteins of Vista Point is a heartwarming story about a family working together to heal after the loss of a sibling, mixed with touching sibling bonds and a small mystery.

I didn’t love this book as much as I thought I would, mostly because I had expected a mystery and this really felt more like a general fiction contemporary book. The mystery was so painfully obvious that I guessed it almost immediately and was kind of bummed to find that I had called everything right away. I think readers who go in expecting more contemporary and less mystery will really enjoy this book, though. The setting is fantastic, the characters are great, and the interactions between family members are funny and uplifting!

My Thoughts

- The Einsteins of Vista Point is set in a picturesque small town setting that will feel immediately familiar to rural readers. Vista Point has a history. Not always a pleasant one, either. The town has its secrets, which the Einsteins are slowly learning about as the past comes back to haunt them. But then again, what small town would be complete without its history and secrets?

I really liked the descriptions of Vista Point. It seems like such a quiet, idyllic place to live! I definitely felt flashbacks to my own childhood as the Einsteins explored the woods and went swimming in a random pond they found. For urban readers, this book may be a bit eye-opening as to what life is like in small towns, but as a small town native, born and raised, I thought Guterson hit the nail on the head with this setting! Plus, the descriptions just make you feel like you’re there.

Also, the Tower sounds absolutely amazing and I’m jealous that we don’t have one. Don’t know what the Tower is? Guess you’ll just have to read it to find out. 😉

- What this book does really well is weave a solid story of a family healing from grief and loss. As I’ve said, the mystery was pretty obvious. What I loved most about this book, though, is this family! The Einsteins lost their youngest member, who was hit by a car just under a year before this book starts. The family is still reeling from this loss. In fact, it’s the reason they’ve moved to Vista Point to begin with (which I didn’t fully understand the reasoning here, but I doubt middle grade readers will care).

The family members each experience grief in a different way, which makes sense. For Zack, his grief comes with a healthy layer of guilt, because he was supposed to be watching his sister when she ran after a kitten into the road. So he finds it harder to move on. His siblings are there for him, though. I loved how much the family supports each other as they’re working through their grief together.

- Readers will likely fall in love with the Einsteins. Not only is there a lot of them, each with their own unique personality, but they’re also very loving and supportive of each other. Considering how many middle grade books have a tendency of simply killing off parents or making them conveniently absent, it’s always nice to read a book where the parents are not only present and active in their children’s lives but also extremely supportive! Not only are they present, but Zack’s parents are adorable and share inside jokes with their kids.

There were some moments where I was kind of confused, where Zack said something and nobody in his family believed him or thought he was lying, even though there was no indication that he had a history of lying or stretching the truth. There were times when I was a bit confused about the interactions simply because the siblings would occasionally lash out at weird moments that didn’t make sense to me (although, I guess that fits with dealing with grief).

Still, despite that, I mostly enjoyed the sibling interactions. They joke between themselves and occasionally drive each other crazy (as siblings are wont to do), but at the end of the day, they’ve got each others’ backs. I was just absolutely in love with how close-knit the Einsteins are!

Sticking Points

- If readers go in expecting a mystery book, they’re likely to be disappointed. The mystery feels like a minor part of this story, and the resolution is obvious and easy to guess from the beginning of the book. This isn’t really anything wrong with the book, per se. It’s more about managing expectations. I went in expecting the mystery to dominate the book, had been excited for that, and it simply wasn’t the case. The majority of this book read more like contemporary general fiction, which is perfectly fine . . . if you’re into that genre. I’m really not. Which meant there were large portions of the book that felt like they were slow or dragging, because I tend to be less interested in contemporary fiction.

As for the mystery itself, I guessed it almost immediately. I thought that surely that couldn’t be the resolution, because it was so obvious, but it was. I will say that I think kids may not be able to guess it quite as easily, unless they maybe read a ton of mystery and are used to the tropes and good at solving things.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book.

Reminiscent of the relationship of Karen Kingsbur's Baxter family siblings , Zack and his siblings have moved and are helping their parents open a new bed and breakfast in the wake of their youngest sister's death. Zack meets Ann, and together they explore the tower, and so the surrounding areas, but something isn't quite right, and their journey together is an important one.

This story in the end is all about grief and closure. Both of which can be so powerful, especially when the first hasn’t been processed fully. The beginning of this did start of kind of slow and left me knowing something was slightly off but not sure what. But by the end I thoroughly enjoyed it, I loved the solving of the cipher and the family working together. The end of it brought full closure but in the plot and as a whole.

This is a Middle Grade with some Magical Realism. This book took me a little bit to be pulled into the story. I love this story so much once I was pulled into it. There was so much going on in this book, but I think it was done so well. I also love the messages in this book. The characters were so great, and I really got to get to know all the characters. This was a very fun read with a little mystery and magical realism tossed into. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Christy Ottaviano Books) or author (Ben Guterson) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

One day I was window shopping on Amazon as you do when you are supposed to be on a book buying ban (and don't ask how it is going) when i came across Ben Guterson's latest and I got excited as I absolutely loved and adored The Winterhouse Series so I added it straight to my wishlist. Then TBR & Beyond Tours emailed about a blog tour and yes siree I wanted in so of course I signed up. I honestly thought that I had no chance as this would no doubt be a popular tour so you can imagine how excited I was when I found I had a place on the tour I squealed and considering i am a 50 plus who is a big kid at heart was over the moon.

I am not gonna give anything away not even a smidgen as I feel it would totally spoil the book so what I am going to talk about is how it made me feel.

I loved the Einsteins as a family but I did have a soft spot for Zack I actually saw parts of me inside him. When he first met Ann I had a feeling that this meeting was quite important but wasn't sure how and why and this intrigued me. I do want to say Ben wrote about grief beautifully in such a way that made me struggle with my emotions. It brought to a head a time of grief that literally knocked me for six and then some but then while I kept on reading I realised that this was actually a story of love whether it was lost or found and I am so glad that I got to read it. For all these reasons The Einsteins of Vista Point 4 Stars

I really enjoyed this book. It is a beautifully written story about dealing with loss. It is well written for a younger audience. I really enjoyed the show of a strong family bond.
Zack and his family are still healing from a loss when they move to Vista Point to open a B&B. Zack is definitely taking it the hardest and through the book the author shows how family bonds and a little fun and adventure can cure a broken heart.
I highly recommend this book!

This is the newest book by the author of the Winterhouse series – excellent if you’ve not tried them.
After Zack’s little sister dies in an accident, the family decides to make a new start in the town of Vista Point, by buying an old mansion and turning it into a B&B. 11 yr. old Zack blames himself for Susan’s death so as his 3 remaining siblings and parents work on the house, he frequently goes out to explore on his own. When he ventures into the abandoned Tower, he meets Ann and the two set out to discover the meaning of the strange marks and writings in the Tower’s dome.
A really good read dealing with grief, healing, and hope

I really enjoyed this book. I think it took me a little bit to really get into it, but once I did, I was so curious to see what would happen next. I think it's a pretty powerful story about dealing with grief, and I really appreciated how the author handled the material. Even though this is a middle grade book, I really feel like it could be read and liked by people of all ages. I also really appreciated how strong the familial bonds were in this novel. While this story mainly revolved around Zack, we also get to see the love and support that the whole family has for him and each other, and it was really heartwarming to see this so strongly shown in a novel. I definitely recommend this book!

I absolutely loved and reccommend this book! The author was an auto read, and if you've read the Winterhouse series, you know there's some magic involved 😀 This reads a little more mature and contemporary though, without the slight horror component, and there 's just a tiny nod to the readers of Winterhouse in the middle of the book (I squeeled when I read that 💜)
The book deals with the complex grief of losing a sibling and a child, but Ibthink it's fone in a respectful and gentle way. I hope the Einsteins will get a second book, or that more of the magic of kindness places will ❤

This book was good. It reminded me of a Boxcar Children Mystery adventure book. The family dynamic made things interesting. The mystery was well laid out. The readers who liked Winterhouse and those that like a good wholesome mystery will like it.