Book Reviews and More: Designed by Lucy - Courtney Sheinmel

Wednesday 17 July 2019

Designed by Lucy - Courtney Sheinmel - The Kindness Club Book 2

Designed by Lucy
The Kindness Club Book 2
Courtney Sheinmel
Bloomsbury
ISBN 9781681198996
eISBN 9781681191188
ASIN B07584LJV3

My oldest and I have read and reviewed all the Stella Batts books by Courtney Sheinmel at least twice. This was the second book that my oldest read to my youngest two and me. It was the first book of our family summer reading challenge. And all four of us loved it. We each gave it 5/5 stars. Our first reactions were:

A great read in a wonderful series. My oldest read most of this to my youngest two and me as family reading time for part of our summer reading challenge. We all Loved it! Our once sentence reviews are:

8 year old - that they all came together to make the quilt and provide a good memory for Serena.
11 year old - that they always strive to show kindness to everyone.
13 year old - Courtney is one of my favorite authors ( specially Stella Batts Books) and the books endings always make me happy.
50 year old - a great read by one of our favorite Middle Grade/YA authors.

My kids have come to realize that I make predictions about what is going to happen in a book. And far more often than not I am correct. The kids wonder how I can do it, and I just say with the number of books I have read you start to see things coming. My oldest is starting to do it as well now. And that was the case with this story. Both my oldest and I Realized that Lucy’s father and grandmother were under a lot of stress. Their changed behaviour. Not having the money to fix or replace the dishwasher. Working longer and longer hours. But this story is about much more than just the trials the Tanaka’s are undergoing. Lucy really wants to keep the kindness club going. And she is striving to find projects, so they have things to do. She does not want her newfound friendships with Chloe and Theo to end. To that end she undertakes two projects, the first is helping out in her gran’s place at an after-school program, and the second planning a birthday party for a girl at school who just lost her mother.

Unfortunately, the IT girls seem to squash one. And the other does not work as planned. And Lucy is devastated. But friends and family come together and a whole lot of people being kind might lead to a little magic! Lucy is committed to trying to do three kind things every day. And she admires that kindness comes so naturally to Chloe. But she soon realized that sometimes you need to accept the help and kindness of others also.

This is a great second book in a series, and our family desperately hope there will be a at least a third volume focused on Theo. An excellent read for middle grade readers, preteens, or really anyone who loves a good wholesome story. Another excellent read from the masterful pen of Courtney Sheinmel.