TBR-ia: August 5, 2026

This Week’s Wisteria:

Progress is being made!

Comparing to last week’s cluster, this one seems to curl a bit more, though I only made it about a third of the way up before I started struggling to make sure the crochet petals curled in the correct direction. Maybe after making a few more, I’ll get better at making the clusters look fuller.

This Week’s Book:

My Diary from the Edge of the World, by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Quick Summary: A girl and her family try to escape looming doom coming for their youngest family member

A couple months ago, I took my nephew to a thrift store, intending to find him some easy readers to help him practice as he continues learning to read. We found him several books, as well as some unused writing workbooks (score!), and, as I expected, I also found myself several books, the number of which I am unwilling to admit.

This book is actually one that my nephew saw and asked me to get, just because he saw a dragon on the cover, I think. He didn’t ask me to get it to read to him, he just said he wanted me to read it. I almost didn’t buy it because the stack of books I had found was already too tall! But how could I tell my buddy no about A BOOK??

And so, here we are:

This middle grade book is set in an alternate version of our world - the biggest differences are that this world is flat instead of round and that all of the mythical creatures and magic that inhabit our stories actually populate all the same places as humans there. Humans in this alternate world have followed paths of invention and progress similar to our own, just hindered by creatures like dragons and sasquatches. Countries are named the same as ours and have similar histories, just influenced by various magical entities, like ghosts and witches.

This fantastical backdrop allows Anderson to explore, in a more kid-friendly way, a major factor that this imaginary world shares with ours: death and loss.

Gracie, a middle child living in this world’s USA, is faced with an unexpected cross-country trip with her family when her parents realize that a Dark Cloud seems to be coming for their young son, Sam, Gracie’s little brother. Her parents buy an RV, pack up Sam, Gracie, and their oldest sister, Millie, and uproot them all in an attempt to escape the Dark Cloud.

In this setting, Dark Clouds come for people when it is time for them to die. These clouds aren’t always quick, but they are persistent, as Gracie and her family learn when they are pursued across the country and even across the sea by this Cloud.

They encounter many challenges in a variety of magical forms, spurring them to understand each other and themselves better along the way and to grow individually and as a family. As Gracie says at one point, “It feels like the landscape of my brain has grown, like I am bigger inside” (Anderson, 170).

I appreciate that each character in this family had strengths and flaws that contribute to how the story unfolds, and that such a sensitive topic as death is approached with gentleness and honesty, as well as a mixture of determination and surrender. I think this book could be used as a possible avenue to discussion with preteens and young teens about loss

Caveat: As a Christian who believes in angels, I wasn’t a fan of angels being included among the mythical creatures of this alternate world and them being described as having rebelled against “the gods,” but that is because of the perspective I am bringing to the book. There didn’t seem to be any malicious intent behind their descriptions in the book, as far as I could tell.

Overall:

I have a space on my shelves specifically for books that I think should be read with discernment, but still seem to have valuable ideas. I plan to add this book to that shelf. Walking through this journey with Gracie as she learned to appreciate her family, even with their flaws, and to see beauty and magic in life’s most mundane things was challenging in a way that I am thankful for.

Dear Lord, guide us in this life that is so often full of uncertainty and loss. Help us have hope. Help us to share that hope, in the name of Jesus.

Wishing you goodness without end,

Jess