Pick Up Bumbling Bea Composed By Deborah Baldwin Digital Copy

it comes to books where children are the protagonists, I make it a point to share the story with my daughters.
If they loved listening to it, then it means the story is really awesome,

Bumbling Bea is a story about a little girl and her trials and tribulations in the world of drama, The plot revolves around the emotions and thoughts that occupy a child, I wish I could elaborate further but that would lead to loads of spoilers and that would be like doing injustice to the author.
You need to read it to actually experience it,

The writing style is simple and appealing, It is easily understood by children except for a few words that exposes them to a different culture like Kabuki, However, besides being a great read, Deborah ensures that her story constantly generates mental images and tugs at heartstrings, The choice of words used reflect the effort that she must have put in to make this story both childfriendly and adultfriendly.


There are no antagonists in this story, In fact, through this story, Deborah manages to portray human emotions through children, Children are both expressive and innocent, Hence, through their characters Deborah gives a peek into their world and how everything turns out just fine in the end, She brings out subtly that there is a Bumbling Bea in all of us irrespective of our ages, Yet, if the inner child is still alive and kicking, the negativity can be taken care of,

To sum up, this book is an absolute must read if your inner child loves to read, And if you have children, this is an awesome read for them as well, It helps connect you with the kid residing within you,

P. S Deborah you have a wonderful narrative style and I chose to read your book because of this reason, My review is unbiased and I hope there are more adventures in the life of Bumbling Bea!!! Disclaimer: I received a free signed copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This will not affect my review in any way,

Overall Thoughts: A long time ago like a few months actually I read a short story called “The Nose” in English.
One of the weirdest stories I have read, Even though it waspages, I couldnt get through evenwithout stopping! I had the same experience with Bumbling Bea, and I did not like it.
This is probably the firststar review Im giving a book in a long time, and that means something, Bumbling Bea just wasnt the best book I have read, especially compared to the books I read before and after it,  I did like the premise, though, and I was expecting a comical, light read, but thats not what I got, I know that some people will enjoy this book, and I have no doubt about that, but for me, its one that I didnt like at all.
I just dont like it at all, and even though I reservefor DNFs, I can only give itstar,

Writing Style: The writing style is what bugged me the most about this book, There was just too must telling and too much unnecessary detail/backstory, One of the biggest “make or break” parts of a novel is the voice of the narrator, and I learned from my creative writing that in writing fiction you must show the details and only include those that are necessary.
Pardon if

I start going into “minilesson” mode thats how I convey my feelings sometimes,

First, regarding showing, I was told what happened, I wasnt shown what was happening, Anton Chekhov, a famous Russian playwright, once wrote, “Dont tell me the moon is shining show me the glint of light on broken glass.
” As a reader, I want to see what is going on, I want to be transported into the story, I want to feel the wind caressing my body as it provides me relief from the heat of the glaring sun, not just being told that the wind was blowing.
I was told what happened during the day, which did not contribute to the plot Ill talk about that in a minute.
I didnt feel like I wanted to keep on going, In fact, I set it down for a while and finished both The One Memory of Flora Banks and The Bakersville Dozen before I picked it up again.


Second, regarding unnecessary details, I would sometimes encounter a page that is full of unnecessary backstory and details, and it honestly stalled the plot.
Its good to insert some flashbacks and backstory in some spots, and I love them, but they werent used in the best way in this book.
I just kept going, “Do I really need to know this” as I continued the novella,

Also, the voice didnt exactly match a middle school students voice, When I read The One Memory of Flora Banks, I loved how the childlike narration matched Floras personality, As I read Bumbling Bea on the other hand, it didnt really match how a MG child would speak, Ive read my fair share of Middle Grade books and Ive been in middle school just two years ago to know what is the right voice for a younger protagonist.
Ive read MG books such asHollow Road, Be Light Like a Bird, and How to Steal a Dog that truly capture the child/MG voice, but Bumbling Bea did not match what an MG reader would read.
I dont think it fits exactly with its intended audience, I know the narrator is inth grade I wasinth grade and Bea didnt capture the simplicity and innocence that I love to see in MG characters.


Antihero: So the author took a gamble with using an antihero as the protagonist, By the way, an antihero is a protagonist who lacks heroic virtues, which I think is different from a flawed protagonist, Beatrice has an “alternate ego” called “Bumbling Bea,” a snarky, sarcastic version of herself thats disrespectful to those around her, Did the main character annoy me Yes, at points, Personally, antiheroes are huge gambles when writing a book because not everyone is a fan of them, Now me, did I like Beatrice No, not until the end, Now are there books where you just love the antihero Yes, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns which I want to read a lot is one example where many people who did not like them loved the main character.
But it just didnt work for me,

Concluding Thoughts: I wish I could say why I think you should read this book, but I honestly cant say.
If you want to try out this book, go ahead! You might like it much better than I did, But those were my reasons why it did not click with me, It had a lot of potential, but it wasnt well executed, I wish I could say more good things about this book, but sadly, I cannot, It just doesnt feel like a middle grade book, sitelinkBumbling Bea
What a cute story of a youngster by the name of Beatrice, an eighth grader who is having a difficult time keeping her opinions to herself.
And what opinions they are!

Beatrice is a regular kid who is learning the lessons of true friendship, what that means and how to be a great friend.
It's not an easy feat for her, but she does seem to learn a lot more than she bargained for,

The story is centered on a grade eight school play which is a unique element, We really don't hear enough about the world of theater so this made the experience all that more enjoyable,

Well done Mrs, Baldwin on an excellent story and having the ability to immerse yourself into the mind of an eighth grader,

An excellent read!,