Cute, endearing, and wonderfully supported by superhero comic-style illustrations, ETTA INVINCIBLE was a sweet and unexpected middle grade read! It's a strange tale (think PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH) involving wishes and power and, of course, magical trains, but it's also a tender portrait of hearing loss and how to find your own strength against seemingly insurmountable odds.

A bold, magical debut that will resonate with many young readers.

4.5 stars. I really enjoyed the description of Etta's maybe-illness, even the 'maybe-ness' of it. The way her parents fought to treat her symptoms, and to keep her as healthy as they could, was heartwarming.. it was hard to see how they struggled to research such a vague set of symptoms was heartwarming, but you could still feel their anguish at being unable to fix it for their little girl.
I found the way the Storm was described very interesting, even as it caused different reactions on different people and the ways they dealt with it.


When Etta and Eleazar got on the train to look for Louisa May (unbeknownst to either of their parents), their journey was a whole lot of clues and mysteries, adventures and foibles. They meet some interesting characters on their way to find the Great Conductor.
I really liked the way Etta and Eleazar dealt with their challenges, and that there was a great moral to the story.
i would read their comics!!

Reese Eschmann is not here to make things easy

Etta Invincible was not what I expected. I expected a warm and cuddly children's adventure with a Disney-style happy ending. That's not what it is. There is no Prince Charming swanning his way in to save the Princess, no Wizard to magically cure Etta's Meniere's disease. No one but Etta will save Etta, and Eschmann doesn't make it easy for her. Etta is a splendid heroine with a strong mind and heart.

Right from the beginning, Etta is an easy character to like. Here are some thoughts that Etta thinks,

"The paint on the windowsills is peeling very slowly, like an immortal snail has been cursed to make his way across our house for all eternity, breaking off tiny flecks of paint with his mucus and slime."

'“I’m not Spider-Man,” Eleazar says. “But I like your comics. You’re cool.” As the words pop up on the screen, he nods definitively, as though that’s the end of that, and for the rest of my days I’ll now wear a sign that says HERE IS A GIRL WHO WAS ONCE DEEMED COOL.'

The publisher's blurb is a good introduction to the plot. We begin with a few introductory chapters in which we meet Etta and she makes friends with Eleazar and his dog Louisa. Etta, Eleazar, and Louisa meet a magical train. Louisa runs aboard and the train leaves the station. Etta and Eleazar board the train to get her back. They must proceed from the back of the train through ten magical train cars to reach the engine room, where Louisa has gone. Each train car has its own magic and presents a different puzzle that they must solve in order to proceed to the next.

From this description you might get the idea that Etta Invincible is a kind of Pilgrim's Progress or Phantom Tollbooth, whose plot consists of our hero running a gamut of intellectual and emotional challenges. But it turns out to be much better than that. There is a real story, a real challenge to be met, a real danger to defeat. You will not understand this until deep into the book, but when you do, it all becomes so much more meaningful.

I was surprised by the emotional intensity of the second half of the book. Once Eschmann has gotten us to the point that we know the characters well enough to care about them, she takes advantage of that. It's powerfully affecting and even scary. A young kid reading it will be all up in her feels, as was I. There's nothing there, I think, that you would hesitate to read to a young kid, but it is gripping.

I hesitated about what rating to give Etta Invincible. I reserve five star ratings for books, that, in my judgment, have a claim to be called Great Literature. Etta Invincible is a candidate because of the strength of the character and the way the plot elicits that. The consideration that tipped me to five stars was this being Eschmann's debut novel. I want to read more from her.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for an advance reviewer copy in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 28%.

I love the deaf representation. I wasn't familiar with Meniere's disease, and I thought the author described Etta's experiences really well. I also love her relationships with her parents, and how supportive each parent is in their own way. Like how her mom is often anxious about how Etta's doing, and has open conversations about this with Etta, and how her dad is working really hard to learn sign language but still needs to fingerspell his words. I like the insight into how the weather and allergies can cause Etta to have 'quiet days', and so she just adapts depending on whatever her daily situation is.

I also love the concept of the superhero character she creates, Invincible Girl. I thought the way the superhero's adventures tie in to Etta's real-life experiences is clever, and I like how we see her own expanding circle of friends within the superhero adventure.

And the dog Louisa May Alcott is adorable. I like how Eleazar names her after the author because he loves the copy of Mujercitas (Little Women) that his grandmother gave him. I like how he sometimes speaks in Spanish, and Etta uses her phone text-to-speech app + Google Translate to communicate with him. I wasn't super familiar with how phones could be used for that kind of accessibility aid, so that was really interesting. The dog Louisa is also endearing enough that I'm all for a quest to find / save her, and I really hope Etta and Eleazar succeed.

Ultimately, though, this book wasn't for me. I wasn't really getting into the whole 'magical storm' elements of the plot, and the descriptions of the train rides got a bit confusing for me. Like, what's this purple stuff that Etta sees, and when adults talk about the stormy weather, do they also see the weird purple stuff? I'm sure all of that is actually explained in the book... I just felt a bit lost in the train scenes, and I found myself unclear about what was real and what was within the fantastical elements of Etta's imagination.

That's not necessarily a bad thing -- I can imagine other readers getting pulled into this semi-fantastical / semi-realistic story. It just didn't hook me, and I realized I didn't really care enough about the train or the purple magic stuff in the storm to keep reading.

+

Thanks to the publisher for an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun read and it reminds me of Infinity Train but light and whimsical.

The cast was rememorable and each had their own arcs which strengthened the story since it was focused on the characters inner turmoil and overcoming that. Etta is a very relatable kid as she has her favourite things and her own hang ups. When her important stuff got messed with, I was screaming in horror as I know the feeling of a sibling getting into your stuff and messing it up as a child, feeling like it was ruined forever.

The twists and turns made sense and built up to a satisfying end. I also enjoyed the comics in the beginning and end of the novel as well as a train drawings marking how far our heroes progressed and I'm hoping to see more drawings on the final product.