Savvy

Bibliography 
Law, I. (2008). Savvy. New York Boston, Mass: Dial Books for Young Readers Walton Media. ISBN: 9780803733060

Plot Summary
Something strange happens to the Beaumont family on their thirteenth birthday. Her brother, Fish, created a hurricane on his thirteenth birthday. Her other brother controlled electricity!

Days before her thirteenth birthday, Mississippi “Mibs” Beaumont’s father is in a horrible car accident and falls into a coma. Her mother and brother go to be with him while the rest of her family stays behind. But on her thirteenth birthday, Mibs is convinced that she can help her father. All she needs to do is make it to him. With the help of a pink bus and the preachers' children, Mibs makes her thirteenth birthday one to remember.

Critical Analysis 
This fantasy novel gives Mibs one thing that most fantasy novels don’t: a family. Her mother, a perfectionist by savvy, a non-savvy father, a groundbreaking grandfather, and three brothers and one little sister. The story kicks off when her family life is threatened. Her father has been involved in a 10 vehicle pile up, falls into a coma, and no one knows if he will survive or not.

The idea of a savvy, a sort of magical power, is not new. The same year Savvy was released,  Kristin Cashore’s Graceling hit the shelves. Everyone is born with a grace, just as everyone is born with a savvy. The difference between the two novels is that a savvy is bestowed upon you on your thirteenth birthday. Two days after her father is hospitalized, Mibs celebrates her thirteenth birthday with a party she didn’t ask for.

Mibs and her family are considered outcasts in the small town they live in. Actually, the Beaumont family lives on the border of Nebraska and Kansas. The family moved to this landlocked area to help Fish, one of Mibs’s brothers’, “scumble” his savvy of creating hurricanes. Scumble is a term in the novel to mean “control”. This plays a major role in the novel as, during their travels, the band of misfits tends to find themselves near large bodies of water.

One major issue with the story is that Mibs becomes convinced that her savvy is to wake up those that don’t want to wake. Even after there are multiple events that prove otherwise. Such as Lester, the nervous bible selling bus driver, and his tattoos on his arms that keep speaking to each other. Or Bobbi, the preacher’s daughter, who has a tattoo of an angel with a devil’s tail that keeps speaking to Mibs. The most telling piece of evidence of all is when Mibs draws a sun on the hand of the preachers' son, Will Junior, and the sun begins to speak to her. After all of this, she still insists on attempting to wake a homeless man lying on the side of the street. While the author attempts to convey Mibs hopefulness that she will be able to help her father, it falls flat considering the mounting evidence to the contrary.

The book is full of creative descriptions, odd names, and crazy adventures for the characters. The savvy Mibs has inherited is very creative. She can hear other peoples thoughts or feelings through the ink on their skin, whether it is permanent or not. Mibs learns that she cannot run away from what she is, no matter how hard she may try.

The ending of this book riles up several issues though. The father seems to have some memory issues. The accident left him with pieces missing, and only Mibs can truly communicate with him through the mermaid tattoo on his arm. During the very last chapter, it is revealed that he has been home almost a year.
          “He recognized me that day. That was good. After coming home from Salina Hope Hospital, Poppa couldn’t always remember what day of the week it was or whether or not he liked blueberries in his pancakes. He couldn’t recall if we lived in Nebraska or in Kansas and didn’t understand that we lived in both, or how that had come to be” (pg 335-336).
After the reader learns this about the father of the family, the reader also learns another piece of somewhat disturbing information. The mother of the family thinks she may be pregnant again. An interesting end to an interesting tale. Hopefully, Scumble the sequel to Savvy will answer some unanswered questions.

Review Excerpt(s) 
Newbery Medal Nominee (2009)
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Nominee for Children's Literature (2009)
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (2010)
Iowa Children's Choice Award Nominee (2012)
Andre Norton Award Nominee (2008)
Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature Nominee (2009)
Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award Nominee (2011)
KIRKUS - “Law displays both a fertile imagination...and a dab hand for likable, colorful characters...[a] marvel-laden debut.”
PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY - “Law's savvy? She's a natural storyteller who's created a vibrant and cinematic novel that readers are going to love.”
BOOKLIST - “Law's storytelling is rollicking, her language imaginative, and her entire cast of whacky, yet believable characters delightful...wholly engaging and lots of fun.”
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL - “With its delightful premise and lively adventure, this book will please a wide variety of audiences, not just fantasy fans...Definitely an author to watch.”

Connections
Rocket can control electricity, the grandfather claims to have created Idaho, and Fish can create hurricanes. Students can break off into groups to study the actual cause of these events. How do we have electricity? How do hurricanes form? How did Idaho become a state?
Students can track the characters progress from Hebron to Bee to Wymore to Manhattan to Salina. Use the website https://www.distance-cities.com/distance-hebron-ne-to-salina-ks to track the distance from Hebron to Salina. This could be used to create math problems.
Discussion question: What sort of savvy do you think you would have? Why? What sort of problems could this create? How could you use it for good?
The author uses a lot of similes. Have students track similes as they read.
The author uses a lot of alliteration when they are describing things. “Bobbi stuck out her tongue with a sour and shimmying shudder, squirming away…” (pg 242). Try using words that mean the same thing with the same beginning letter.
Book 2: Law, I. (2010). Scumble. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.
Book 3: Law, I. (2015). Switch. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.
For older readers: Cashore, K., Mathison, J. & Riggs, C. (2008). Graceling. Orlando, FL: Harcourt.