
I've been undecided between giving this book three stars or just two: for one side, giving it two stars doesn't feel right, on the other, I don't think I'll ever read it again. But I think this was mostly a case of "it's not you book, it is me".
The main character is a precocious child of eleven, who is suffering from depression and anxiety among other things. But she doesn't have a name for that, and she doesn't know how to deal with it, so she creates this magical place to which she escapes.
I've suffered from anxiety all my life and my way of dealing with it, was just to ignore it, so having to "listen" to Finley go over and over about what she was feeling started to stress me out. There were moments in which I just I didn't want to pick this book any more... but as you can see, that's my problem.
Do I think this will help kids who are going through what Finley is?
Yeah, maybe. For some, it probably won't work, but for the majority it will probably help them, and for that alone this book deserves all the stars.
Myself, I had some trouble going from "real life" moments to the moments in which Finley would enter her magical world. But I am 37 and cranky.
Even so, there were moments in which this book got me in tears, like
The same happened with my maternal grandmother, and I still can't deal with it.