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Katy by Notgrass
Katy Porter likes to climb trees, play with her sister, and ride bikes with her brother. The Porters are a close family. They are brought even closer through a family vacation, a surprise in the middle of the night, and an important decision that will affect them all. Katy is enjoying her summer break from school when her parents tell her that they are thinking about homeschooling in the fall. Katy likes being an average girl and is afraid that being homeschooled will make her too different from everyone else. Katy's parents will have to decide soon. This summer could bring a big change for the Porter family. Whatever they decide, it has already brought a big change in Katy's heart, for she is learning that being different is okay after all. Katy is a pure story of strong character, simple faith, and a loving family.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 11, 2020
This book follows 8-year-old Katy, as she and her family try to decide if they want to homeschool or not, and over all this was a fairly enjoyable book. I particularly liked the very beginning where Katy's older sister Anna is tickling her and they're giggling together; it actually reminded be of my relationship with my sister.
That said, I did have a few problems with it, some of them not very small.
First of all, there's not a whole lot of description, and after reading the whole book I actually still have no idea what any of the characters look like.
Second of all, the family is too perfect. The family consists of Katy, her 10-year-old sister Anna, their 12-year-old brother Seth, and their mom and dad. I appreciate that all of the kids were raised well to be polite and respectful, and I think that the characters all have good values; however, they're a little too perfect. It's possible to have good values, while still being human; everyone makes mistakes. Families are messy, and siblings fight a LOT. And even parents relationships with each other are far from perfect, as are the kids' relationships with the parents.
What we see in this book, however, is very seldom a fight, and when anyone *does* fight it goes something like this: Person A says something rude/mean/whatever to Person B, Person B says something mean back, and then they both immediately realize they were wrong and apologize. THIS IS NOT HOW FIGHTS WORK.
Some fights, maybe. But most fights are much more heated and left with the two people either not talking to each other for a few hours, or simply avoiding one another and still snapping at each other when they do see each other. Fights between siblings also usually have to be broken up by a parent.
My third issue with this book is this: Katy has a neighbor called "the Acorn Lady." Katy asks Anna multiple times throughout the book if she'll go with her to the Acorn Lady's house, but Anna always says no. Finally right up to the end of the book, in the very last chapter, they go to the Acorn Lady's house. I was a little bit excited and very curious to see what the Acorn Lady was like, and what was so interesting about her.
Much to my disappointment, instead of an afternoon over at the Acorn Lady's house hanging out with her or something, I received *barely* half a page of them riding their bikes over to the Acorn Lady's house, and collecting some of the many many acorns in her yard. They then go back to their house and ride their bikes over the acorns to split them open.
Woohoo. So glad I waited an entire book for that.
My fourth and final issue with this book is KIND OF A BIG THING. You see, the book is about how Katy and her family are trying to decide is they're going to homeschool in the coming fall or not. So naturally, since this is supposed to be the primary focus of the book, you'd think that the majority of the book *is focused* on them -Katy in particular- wrestling with the two sides of them that want different things, trying to reach a decision, and having things that they do or that happen to them that help make up their minds, right?
Wrong. The idea of homeschooling is mentioned in the beginning of the book. Most of the characters seem like they're leaning more toward sticking with public school. This is then mentioned a few times throughout the book, but none of the characters visibly really make headway in deciding what they think of it, up until the very end where they make their decision.
I looked back through the book, and you could literally read chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 17, and not really miss anything important to the main plot of the book. MOST OF THE BOOK has nothing to with whether or not they're going to homeschool, but is rather focused on Katy's summertime "adventures" and vacations and whatnot. The only reason you even need chapters 3 and 4 is that something comes up in chapter 2 that needs resolving.
Now one could argue that since chapter 4 ends with Katy saying, "Will homeschooling make me too different?" That obviously you'd need the middle of the book to figure out how she comes to a conclusion on that matter. Except that we DON'T see that happen. At no point in the book do we see how, when, or why any of the characters come the conclusions that they do, just that in the end they make a decision. And honestly, it's pretty obvious what their decision is going to be, so you'd think she could at least fulfill our basic expectation as readers that we will SEE what makes them change their minds.
Now, you could argue that it's a kid book so it doesn't have to be that great. I'm 13, so I'm probably just a few years outside the target demographic. However, I still believe that even kids books can and should be high enough quality that older readers can even appreciate them to some degree. Younger readers shouldn't have to read lower quality writing just because they're younger. Reading a higher level of writing -not necessarily in content, but just in quality- would help them mature in their understand of the world and of the written word, and help them to appreciate good writing.
Anyway, now that I've pulled apart this book and broken its heart, I'd like to say again that this book *was* entertaining, and I did enjoy it some, but it wasn't super high quality and I probably wouldn't bother reading it again or recommending it to a younger sibling.
That said, I did have a few problems with it, some of them not very small.
First of all, there's not a whole lot of description, and after reading the whole book I actually still have no idea what any of the characters look like.
Second of all, the family is too perfect. The family consists of Katy, her 10-year-old sister Anna, their 12-year-old brother Seth, and their mom and dad. I appreciate that all of the kids were raised well to be polite and respectful, and I think that the characters all have good values; however, they're a little too perfect. It's possible to have good values, while still being human; everyone makes mistakes. Families are messy, and siblings fight a LOT. And even parents relationships with each other are far from perfect, as are the kids' relationships with the parents.
What we see in this book, however, is very seldom a fight, and when anyone *does* fight it goes something like this: Person A says something rude/mean/whatever to Person B, Person B says something mean back, and then they both immediately realize they were wrong and apologize. THIS IS NOT HOW FIGHTS WORK.
Some fights, maybe. But most fights are much more heated and left with the two people either not talking to each other for a few hours, or simply avoiding one another and still snapping at each other when they do see each other. Fights between siblings also usually have to be broken up by a parent.
My third issue with this book is this: Katy has a neighbor called "the Acorn Lady." Katy asks Anna multiple times throughout the book if she'll go with her to the Acorn Lady's house, but Anna always says no. Finally right up to the end of the book, in the very last chapter, they go to the Acorn Lady's house. I was a little bit excited and very curious to see what the Acorn Lady was like, and what was so interesting about her.
Much to my disappointment, instead of an afternoon over at the Acorn Lady's house hanging out with her or something, I received *barely* half a page of them riding their bikes over to the Acorn Lady's house, and collecting some of the many many acorns in her yard. They then go back to their house and ride their bikes over the acorns to split them open.
Woohoo. So glad I waited an entire book for that.
My fourth and final issue with this book is KIND OF A BIG THING. You see, the book is about how Katy and her family are trying to decide is they're going to homeschool in the coming fall or not. So naturally, since this is supposed to be the primary focus of the book, you'd think that the majority of the book *is focused* on them -Katy in particular- wrestling with the two sides of them that want different things, trying to reach a decision, and having things that they do or that happen to them that help make up their minds, right?
Wrong. The idea of homeschooling is mentioned in the beginning of the book. Most of the characters seem like they're leaning more toward sticking with public school. This is then mentioned a few times throughout the book, but none of the characters visibly really make headway in deciding what they think of it, up until the very end where they make their decision.
I looked back through the book, and you could literally read chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 17, and not really miss anything important to the main plot of the book. MOST OF THE BOOK has nothing to with whether or not they're going to homeschool, but is rather focused on Katy's summertime "adventures" and vacations and whatnot. The only reason you even need chapters 3 and 4 is that something comes up in chapter 2 that needs resolving.
Now one could argue that since chapter 4 ends with Katy saying, "Will homeschooling make me too different?" That obviously you'd need the middle of the book to figure out how she comes to a conclusion on that matter. Except that we DON'T see that happen. At no point in the book do we see how, when, or why any of the characters come the conclusions that they do, just that in the end they make a decision. And honestly, it's pretty obvious what their decision is going to be, so you'd think she could at least fulfill our basic expectation as readers that we will SEE what makes them change their minds.
Now, you could argue that it's a kid book so it doesn't have to be that great. I'm 13, so I'm probably just a few years outside the target demographic. However, I still believe that even kids books can and should be high enough quality that older readers can even appreciate them to some degree. Younger readers shouldn't have to read lower quality writing just because they're younger. Reading a higher level of writing -not necessarily in content, but just in quality- would help them mature in their understand of the world and of the written word, and help them to appreciate good writing.
Anyway, now that I've pulled apart this book and broken its heart, I'd like to say again that this book *was* entertaining, and I did enjoy it some, but it wasn't super high quality and I probably wouldn't bother reading it again or recommending it to a younger sibling.
September 9, 2021
I enjoyed, and the kids enjoyed more, but I struggled in the midst of it to find the purpose of the stories. Each little story was cute, and it was somewhat tied together at the end, but I didn’t find it as cohesive as I expected.
Even so, my 9yo is eager for the sequel!
Even so, my 9yo is eager for the sequel!
January 30, 2025
Just horrible, we tried, we truly tried to get through this book, the writing is just too poor. The story line is almost nonexistent, it's full of dialogue that discusses next to nothing... it's like being trapped in a bad episode of Seinfeld with no humor.
February 3, 2025
Kids age 12, 10 and 7 really enjoyed this book and are excited to start the 2nd book. Their suggestion is to turn it into a TV show. It reminded them of an American homeschool version of Bluey! Thank you for the fun lite read!
July 25, 2023
It was a great book!!!
April 11, 2024
It was pretty cute.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews