Natalie's Korean heritage is sensitively explored, as is the central issue of depression and its impact Keller draws thoughtful parallels between Natalie's mother's struggles and the fragility of orchids and eggs. Natalie and her best friend Twig collaborate with new student Dari to win an egg drop contest for their experiment, and Natalie imagines using the prize money to fly with her mother to New Mexico, home to a striking cobalt blue orchid, born out of a toxic chemical spill, that her mother had been studying. But her mother, suffering from severe depression, has barely left her bedroom in months. Natalie used to like science and spent much of her childhood in her botanist mother's laboratory. Natalie Napoli's seventh-grade science class is working on a yearlong experiment, recording their findings in 'Wonderings journals.' The text of Natalie's journal comprises Keller's moving debut novel. With their help, Natalie begins an unforgettable journey to discover the science of hope, love, and miracles. Her friends step up to show her that talking about problems is like taking a plant out of a dark cupboard and exposing it to the sun. Her mother has been suffering from depression, and Natalie is positive that the flowers’ magic will inspire her mom to fall in love with life again.īut she can’t do it alone. With the prize money, she can fly her botanist mother to see the miraculous Cobalt Blue Orchids-flowers with the resilience to survive against impossible odds. When Natalie’s science teacher suggests that she enter an egg drop competition, she thinks it could be the perfect solution to all of her problems. This is an uplifting story about friendship, family, and the complicated science of the heart. The spectacular debut novel from the Newbery Award winning author of When You Trap a Tiger. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR

The science of breakable things book