The book I read is Extraordinary by Miriam Spitzer Franklin. This is a book about a girl named Pansy and her friend, Anna. Pansy is always chickening out on stuff, like going to sleepaway camp. After Anna goes to sleepaway camp by herself she gets a very high fever and suffers from brain damage. When Pansy learns Anna is getting a surgery that might cure her she tries to become the most extraordinary person possible to prove to Anna that she won’t always chicken out. She tries to learn how to ice skate/roller skate, cuts her hair to donate, and tries to be number one on the independent reader list. I think this book is set in the New York or upstate New York and takes place in 2017 because there are phones and sleepaway camp is a common thing.

WARNING: THESE PARAGRAPH CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Pansy is dedicated, brave, and caring. She is dedicated because even after she had many big falls roller skating she kept trying. One time, she fell and dogs pulled her across the whole park. She is brave because on the first day of school when she wore mismatching shoes she didn’t care and wore mismatching shoes for the rest of the year. After a few weeks, she made some new friends and they wore mismatching shoes too. Lastly, Pansy is caring because when a boy called Anna a “retard” she stood up for Anna and told him that what he was saying was not nice. In the end, the boy started to be nicer to Pansy. When Pansy is standing up for Anna she says, “There’s no cure for brain damage. It’s like starting over except you’re stuck in this place where you can’t get any better. It doesn’t matter how smart you used to be, how good you were at everything, there is nothing anyone can do. And then you get seizures, so they have to brain surgery. Do you know what happens in brain surgery? First they shave off all your hair. Then they cut open your head and operate on you for hours. You lose a lot of blood. You can get infections. Your family sits in the waiting room and prays for you.” I think this quote shows how caring and sympathetic Pansy is to Anna. She wanted people to know that having brain damage is not an easy thing.

One of the most important parts of the book is when Pansy realizes that not being top of the independent reader list is okay. She realizes how hard she worked to win, and that even though she may of not been on the top she tried her hardest. Another important part of the book is when Pansy roller skates to her friends house without falling. I think this is important because after this, she starts to believe in herself more and becomes more confident. Lastly, it is important when Pansy gives a box of Oreos to Anna. After Anna got her surgery, she wasn’t moving her right arm for a few days. When Pansy gives her the oreos she moves her arm to slap the Oreos. This is important because it gives Pansy more hope that Anna will be okay.

Personally, I loved this book. I liked how I could relate to the book because sometimes I chicken out on things. Like Pansy, I get scared when I go roller skating. Also, I liked how the book was sad, but also had some funny moments. For example, when Anna gets brain damage it is sad, but when Pansy gets pulled by dogs it is funny. I would recommend this book to people who like sad books. There are a lot of dramatic moments, so if you are not a sad book person I would not read this book. This book reminds me of Wonder because they both have stad stories except in Extraordinary it’s Pansy’s view. Also, they both include a bit of bullying. I would rate this book 4 ½ stars.