I liked the representation in this book, but I thought that it was too slow moving and hard to get through.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

So I genuinely think that this book is better with the less you know. It is not necessarily a thriller or a mystery or anything like that It's just a middle grade contemporary with a kid trying to find his way through the ups and downs of friendships and crushes and emotions and social niceties etc.

My one real critique about this is the lack of consistency with the narration. It seems like at points in this book it felt like we were getting our main character in the future, like he knew that something else was going to happen etc and then at other times it was all present tense the here and now. I realize that that can work in some instances but it didn't really work here It just felt discombobulated.

As a whole though I super duper liked this middle grade and the fact that it has kind of an unconventional ending.

Questioning gay MC

I like that this isn't a simple coming out story. Ham isn't firm in his identity. He's simply going through his first crush and beginning to question his identity. It's awkward and nebulous and painful. This isn't a comfortable read. Ham makes some obvious bad decisions and willfully ignores some read flags. So it's one I'd want to discuss with a kid rather than letting them struggle with it on their own.

this book has Wild Morality and has things that just wouldn't happen in schools. there are a lot of typos and also ham gets shushed in a library. also ham is very dumb as a main character which is fine in a middle grade novel but Future Ham keeps being like And then I Made A Stupid Decision. We know, Future Ham!!!! Love to see more queer middle grade but there's better stuff out there. Three stars.

I got an ARC of this book.

I tried reading this one night. Then I had life happen for a month. I don't remember this book at all. I know I was so not interested that I marked it as done on my review calendar after one single night. So not sure how helpful this review is, but this book was not one for me at all.

*dnf*
Green Eyes and Ham follows Ham, who's been homeschooled. This year however he's going into school. He meets new people including Micah. Micah is everything Ham wants to be. This is a story of self acceptance


I unfortunately couldn't get through this. It seems like a good story with good intentions however the writing was not for me. I think someone younger would enjoy it for sure.

It was really difficult to get past the choices that Ham made in this story. Yes, I understand that children often are unaware of the choices they are making and their consequences but I didn’t like the way this was presented.

Such a wonderful book! I love that this is not just "am I queer?" but also "how do I navigate having new friends?" and "what do I do about bullies?" The age range is 8-12 year olds, but the novel focuses on Ham, a 13 year old boy going to public school for the first time. I think this book is great for younger kids, but also plan to add to my 8th grade shelves in the fall. Ham is incredibly relateable, but I wish we got to know his mom and adopted grandfather much more as well.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Mary Penney and the publisher for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
After many years of homeschool, Ham Hudson is off to public school for the very first time. Ham is hoping this will make him a whole new and confident person. Then Ham meets Micah. Micah comes off as cool and confident, but Ham soon learns he is anything but that. Ham also tries even harder to fit in with Micah and his friends, but is learning that he is starting to lose himself. Will Ham be able to make the friends he has always wanted while still being able to stay true to who he is?

I will start with a major trigger warning of bullying in this book. I liked the book and the topics it deals with but the bullying was very sad and almost too much to read at times. I liked Ham and felt bad for him at times. He never really interacted with kids his own age prior to going to school. I hope this book will reach kids that need it the most. I would definitely recommend it for kids 7th grade and up due to the bullying in the story.

This was a quick, easy read with well-developed characters and an obvious lesson to be learned. My main issue was with the idea that Ham had never interacted with other people his own age and didn't know anyone when he arrived at the public school. According to the plot, Ham lives in a small town and everyone knew the story of his adoption, but somehow he was so isolated that the only interaction he had with boys his age was with bullies. There were no other children at his mom's church? No kids in his neighborhood? No community events where he would meet with other homeschooled kids? I struggled with the plausibility of Ham's naivete when Micah pulls stunt after stunt and Ham writes it off as "maybe that's what guys do as friends".

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

I am thoroughly impressed! Beautifully written, this story grabbed me from the opening scene, and is an absolute delight.

Centered around the life of a thirteen year old boy, Mary Penny’s Green Eyes and Ham is a compelling novel for everyone from middle school to adult. Ms. Penny cleverly works issues like adoption, single parenthood, peer conflicts, and self identity into the story.

As Ham navigates these challenges, the tension mounts, and the relationships between the characters grow. Moments of humor and heartbreak, are interspersed as Ham learns about life and his place in it.

Mary Penny is a new author to me, and I’ve got all my fingers crossed that we've only seen the start of this talented author’s writing career.

I was given an early e-copy in exchange for an honest review. I, personally found it, not written as well as it could have been, I found several awkward parts which might have been intentional given the subject matter. Those pesky eighth graders, big men on their middle school campus, and not yet grown into their hormones.. It’s a story that needs to show those early awkward first loves and what you will do, even abandon all your own values, I found that one hard to come to terms with not just the monetary value but to defile the memory of someone you and your mom cared about as well as defile the relationship of the only dad figure you have ever had in your life.. I think it is more about wanting to fit in and finding your place within the larger group.. First love is universally awkward. However, he is exploring the possibility of being gay and with a mother who is head of their church he didn’t feel it would be accepted by her or the church ladies. It is a topic to be examined for sure and for that I can happily recommend. Thanks to #NetGalley, HarperCollins Publishers, and #MaryPenney for the opportunity to review #GreenEyesandHam early.

What a cute title! This is a perfect middle school read to keep kids attention for reading. This plot was well followed. Character development mimic's actual preteen experiences.

I really loved the representation in this, and think we need more in Middle Grade like it. We get the obvious queer representation, but also the display of a toxic relationship as well as changing yourself for somebody else, even in characters that are younger, which I believe is important for younger people to see as they will be able to better recognize it in their own lives. I did believe the writing was a bit low quality, with a lot of telling instead of showing, but I'm sure MG audiences will be less picky than I am about that sort of thing. Overall highly recommend!

Green Eyes and Ham is an example of a book that has a good story and bad writing. The plot itself, while difficult to read due to knowing things were going to go very badly, was important in showing how a child can be manipulated into doing things they don’t want to do by someone they have a crush on (and I think this can be applied to someone who just desperately wants to be friends with someone, too). Ham, a sweet kid who cares about his family, friends, and community, falls hard for Micah, and ignores a lot of bad behaviors he sees from Micah as a result. I think it’s important for kids to see examples of manipulative peers who don’t have other people’s interests at heart, and how sometimes someone just isn’t a very good friend, or a friend at all.

Unfortunately, the writing style and smaller plot points really made this book fail for me. Here are a few examples of things that were awkward:
-It’s clear from the beginning that this is “future Ham” telling the story - he warns the reader that something bad is going to happen but when this story is happening he didn’t know it yet. A lot of chapters ended with Ham reminding the reader that things were going to go wrong, saying that he thought it would be his last lie to his mom but it wasn’t, etc. It really took me out of the story every time this happened, and it just felt like an unnecessary “punch” at the end of the chapter that otherwise had nothing to do with this eventual doom. Kids are smart enough readers to know something bad is going to happen. This wasn’t necessary and didn’t work.
-There were several things that happened in school that made me think “well, this author has clearly never worked in a school.” I was shocked when I read the author information at the end and saw she had her master’s in education! Examples include a pet who follows a kid to school and hangs out in the administrative offices on a daily basis, a teacher driving a kid home, and a teacher visiting a student’s home during their lunch break. The first two wouldn’t be allowed and the third is just impractical - public school lunches aren’t long enough, and teachers are strongly discouraged from leaving school premises. I’m not saying there aren’t schools where these things could happen, but they seem extremely unlikely.
-This is just a pet peeve, but I hate when people are “shushed” in a public library. Ham basically gets shushed for talking just above normal volume. This is such a stereotype and is no longer true. Public libraries are loud places, especially for kids.
-Grammatical errors, such as “could of” instead of “could have.” These may be fixed before final printing but there were more than I’ve seen in other ARCs.
-Awkward dialogue in general and things that just didn’t feel like real people would say them as well as stilted narration and times where Ham was just describing things in more exact detail than needed.

It’s too bad that there were so many issues with the writing of this book, because the plot itself isn’t something I’ve seen much of in middle grade fiction, and it is important. Unfortunately, it really ruined the book for me. Readers who can look past the writing - or who are unaware of or can ignore the parts of the book that were unrealistic - may find something valuable here and enjoy it more than I did.

Ham (Abraham) finds himself dealing with many new challenges as his reverend mom sends him to public school for the first time after being home-schooled forever, having a friend, Fey, for the first time, meeting Micah at school who makes Ham feel nervous (are boys supposed to make you feel nervous), and facing a formidable opponent when he signs up for cross-country. As time passes, Ham finds out that all is not what he thought about certain people and that “life and love can be messy.” Fey had told Ham character and intelligence will prevail, but will Ham realize this before it’s too late?

This was such an amazing book. I really loved the plot and the characters. They were all so unique and the story was a brand-new, super interesting one. I also loved the representation!