Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin
My rating: 4/5 cats
four stars cats for me-as-reader, five stars cats for its intended audience.
this is certainly the year of middle grade for me! and i’m learning that there’s a lot out there in this formerly-unexplored-by-me section of the publishing world that i genuinely enjoy, despite being such an old, old grouch.
this is a completely winsome book that perfectly captures the feeling of being an eleven-year-old girl trying to navigate her changing family dynamic and find her own place in the larger world.
when her five-year-old brother val qualifies to be in a cancer drug trial in new york for his neuroblastoma and her entire family moves three thousand miles away for what is supposed to be a three-month period, thyme sees this temporary relocation as just one more necessary consequence of val’s illness, which has already caused upheaval to her life and her stability. her parents have had less time to spend with her and her older sister cori, they’ve all transitioned to healthier eating habits, and they have readjusted their schedules to revolve around val’s appointments and fluctuating energies. thyme submits to all these changes without complaint because she is a good girl, she loves her family, and val is a particularly sweet little kid; holding up under his own stress and pain with stoicism and unflagging good cheer.
despite her willingness to help the family and be supportive, the move makes thyme a little anxious because she is leaving behind her beloved grandmother, her school, and her best friend shani, and will be spending thanksgiving and christmas in a new place with a very un-californian climate. but she can endure all of this as long as they make it back to sunny san diego by march as promised, where she and shani will celebrate their birthdays together, as they have always done.
thyme’s parents have tried to make things less disruptive for their children with thoughtful gestures and rituals to make up for their divided attentions. thyme, for example, has been given a large glass jar called “the thyme jar,” and whenever she has been helpful and uncomplaining around the house, she is given a slip of paper with a unit of time written on it to put in the jar; time that can be cashed in for thyme-time – where she is allowed to do whatever she wants, as long as it fits in with the rest of the family’s schedule.
because of the time difference, thyme is frequently unable to talk to shani on the phone and she feels increasingly unmoored and homesick, but she keeps earning her slips of paper without spending any of it, because she has a plan: as soon as she has enough time saved up, she is going to spend it all at once on a trip back home.
the move is a huge adjustment – new york is cold and dirty and confusing, she’s scared of the subways, and her new classmates seem much more adult and sophisticated than the kids back home with their drivers and sushi for lunch. other new acquaintances include a grouchy old neighbor named mr lipinsky, with his noise complaints and pet cockatoo, and mrs ravelli, who is helping out around the house while thyme’s parents are at the hospital with val. as the trial goes on and thyme is left to her own devices, she worries about val’s response to the drugs and tries to be dutiful (gotta earn that time!), but she also begins to worry that they might not make it home for her birthday after all.
it is during times of change and stress that a person’s true character really comes out, and thyme is a remarkable character. she is both sympathetic and empathetic, she stands up for others and makes her own decisions; trying new things and making new friends and experiencing her first crush. she’s a peacemaker with good manners who is resourceful and acknowledges her fears and knows her own limits. but she’s not some perfect little girl that you wanna roll your eyes at – she’s just a girl that has been raised right with strong family values who is willing to be helpful and patient because she knows how important this drug trial could be for val. she’s very frustrated when her parents try to keep difficult truths from her, but she also doesn’t want to burden them with constant questions. over the course of the novel, we see the shift in thyme’s priorities, as she grows up and grows more confident and re-evaluates what is the most important thing in her life – what’s worth sacrificing her own desires for.
it’s heartwarming without ever being gooey, which is a big deal for me. i hate goo, but i really loved this family. yeah, it’s a funny and sweet story, but there’s also some harrowing bits and overall it just feels like a very genuine story with its heart in the right place.
i love that val’s stuffed animals are called “stuffed animal lovies” throughout, i love his superhero costumes, i love mr. knuckles, i love her father and their board game tournaments, i love mrs. ravelli, and i loved all the friendships in this book – they felt very authentic, with all the jealousy and hurt feelings, but the strong foundations that helped them realign.
but most especially, i love that thyme has a healthy fear of birds
I’d never liked birds much, especially since our fourth-grade field trip to a bird sanctuary, where fifty songbirds swarmed me all at once. Apparently, you’re supposed to drop the feed on the ground, not clutch it in your fists and scream.
because sometimes the only thing you can do when those little dinosaurs attack is scream.
i loved this book a lot, but i think kids will love it even more than i did, and that’s the most important thing.
