Review: Bringing Me Back

Bringing Me Back by Beth Vrabel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Author Beth Vrabel has been creating a reputation for writing Middle Grade "message" books about children facing adversity. I first read her work last year with her moving book Caleb and Kit about a young teen fighting cystic fibrosis and dealing with his parents' divorce and his growing friendship with an ungrounded girl suffering parental neglect and mental health issues. Her 2018 entry into the Middle-Grade fiction catalog, Bringing Me Back should be on summer reading lists. It's a story of second chances, true friendship, and redemption.

Noah is a 7th grader who has a lot on his plate. After a moment's bad judgment in a football game in which he injures a developmentally disabled child, Micah, in the last minutes of a game, Noah is instantly rendered a rough kid. The team coach quits due to the backlash, the team is disbanded and even his best friend is taking it out on him. But it's his mother's DUI conviction that has been the hardest thing for him to bear (the irony!) both personally and socially, due to the stigma in their small community. Then he goes and makes things worse with compulsive behavior at the beginning of the book, further branding himself as a "bad kid."

At the start of the new school year, Noah and his classmates see a young bear, wandering dangerously close to their school grounds. Hunting season starts soon and she's too small to be hunted but is seemingly unprotected by a mother bear. She faces many perils but the greatest is that a few weeks later she gets a bucket stuck on her head. The bucket blocks her vision and even after she's managed to poke a hole in it, it's not enough to let her eat or hunt. Noah feels responsible because a lot of buckets have been set out in their community, which is collecting funds to bring back their football team. But he also feels an odd kinship with this beleaguered young bear. Can he help save her? With the support of his legal guardian and de facto father figure Jeff and his good friend Rina, he mounts a campaign to do just that.

Bringing Me Back gives us a wounded child who has been through quite a few hard knocks due to his mother's substance abuse, battling his own rash choices and yet still possessing so much heart and conscience. That's such an important idea for both kids and parents to absorb. Noah has such a good heart and he shouldn't be written off as a troubled child. This is a heartwarming story about redemption that may make kids willing to give a peer branded as a "bad kid" a second chance, as well as making those who are labeled as "troubled kids" feel that they can still forge a new life and reputation for themselves with the right support and kindness in their hearts.

This is a quiet book with big goals. I hope teachers and librarians embrace it.

I received a Digital Review Copy from Edelweiss and a paper review copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.





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