Lynn: Some books have a special place in your heart and Eve Yohalem’s first book, Escape Under the Forever Sky (Chronicle, 2009) is one of them. My middle school readers LOVED it and I loved to booktalk it. So I was really excited to see Yohalem’s new book, The Truth According to Blue (Little, Brown, 2020), and what a treat it is!
Blue is 13, school is out, and she has a secret plan for her summer—hunting for a family treasure her grandfather had spent his life looking for. Pop Pop has passed away recently and Blue’s Dad won’t even talk about any hint of the treasure being real. Blue has another reason to find the treasure. Blue has juvenile diabetes and she desperately wants something more than being seen as Diabetes Girl, especially as she is the actual poster child for a huge Diabetes fundraiser being held at the estate of a famous movie star.
Blue is careful and responsible about her illness. She tests regularly, pays attention to her numbers, and to her service dog, Otis. She can hardly wait to get out on the water and start the search when two huge obstacles enter the picture. Jules, the incredibly spoiled daughter of the movie star becomes Blue’s responsibility to take along and a famous greedy treasure hunter arrives searching for Blue’s treasure! Now for the first time, Blue finds herself keeping big secrets from her parents and taking some serious risks. Is the treasure worth losing their trust?
Endearing characters and a really exciting plot were the high points of the book for me but there are a lot of additional elements that added interest and heart to the story. Blue and Jules are terrific characters, each yearning for the chance to be more than the labels people stuck on them. Blue’s voice is terrific especially and I loved the depiction of a responsible kid trying to do the right thing while making some big mistakes. There is a lot of information about juvenile diabetes woven into the book very skillfully and Blue’s condition is just one piece of who she is. Every reader will fall for Otis. There is also a lot of interesting history, some information on boating and scuba diving, and a setting that makes an intriguing backdrop.
I was rooting for Blue and Jules all the way, cringing at some of their mistakes and smiling at the girls’ growth and developing friendship. The satisfying and surprising ending was the icing on the cake. It was lovely to see such a wonderful parent/child relationship portrayed too. This book had it all and I loved every word! Yay for Blue, Jules, Otis, and Eve Yohalem!
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