When her former best friend abruptly disappears, a neurodiverse seventh grader who struggles with sensory limits and routine changes attempts to follow clues to find the missing girl before it is too late. By the author of Forgotten. Simultaneous eBook. - (Baker & Taylor)
Seventh-grader Frankie, who has various sensory disorders, is determined to find her missing best friend, Colette, before it is too late. - (Baker & Taylor)
In this heartfelt and powerfully affecting coming of age story, a neurodivergent 7th grader is determined to find her missing best friend before it's too late.
Things never seem to go as easily for thirteen-year-old Frankie as they do for her sister, Tess. Unlike Tess, Frankie is neurodivergent. In her case, that means she can't stand to be touched, loud noises bother her, she's easily distracted, she hates changes in her routine, and she has to go see a therapist while other kids get to hang out at the beach. It also means Frankie has trouble making friends. She did have one--Colette--but they're not friends anymore. It's complicated.
Then, just weeks before the end of seventh grade, Colette unexpectedly shows up at Frankie's door. The next morning, Colette vanishes. Now, after losing Colette yet again, Frankie's convinced that her former best friend left clues behind that only she can decipher, so she persuades her reluctant sister to help her unravel the mystery of Colette's disappearance before it's too late.
A powerful story of friendship, sisters, and forgiveness, Tornado Brain is an achingly honest portrait of a young girl trying to find space to be herself. - (Penguin Putnam)
Cat Patrick and her family live near Seattle but spend as much time as possible four hours west setting marshmallows on fire and tangling kites in the curious town of Long Beach. There, Tornado Brain was born.
Cat is the author of several books for young adults including Summer 2011 Kids Indie Next List pick Forgotten, which sold in 23 countries; ALA 2013 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers selection Revived; and others. Tornado Brain is her middle grade debut.
Find her online at www.catpatrick.com. - (Penguin Putnam)
Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Thirteen-year-old Frankie (don't call her Frances) is three-times challenged: she has attention deficit disorder, Asperger's syndrome, and sensory processing disorder. She also has just one friend, Colette, whom she met in kindergarten during a tornado. But now, these seven years later, she and Colette have had a falling out, leaving Frankie friendless; well, except for her twin sister, Tess, but she doesn't count. On top of losing this friendship, Frankie has literally lost Colette, who has seemingly vanished. Colette left behind three brief videos that Frankie thinks are clues—only they were posted two years earlier. Or were they? Clearly everything is changing, and an uneasy Frankie declares, "Change is my enemy." But, as she continues to search for clues to her former friend's absence, she begins to gradually transform, herself. Will she, in the process, find Colette and, perhaps, a new friend in Kai, a sweetheart of a boy in her class? Patrick handles this material beautifully, and she has done a remarkable job of creating an unforgettable character in Frankie, who tells the story in her own idiosyncratic first-person voice, which takes readers inside her head as she struggles with her many challenges. The result is a tour de force that readers will remember long after they have finished the book. Grades 6-9. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.
Horn Book Guide Reviews
Set in a quirky tourist town on the Washington State coast, this story presents an original variation on the relationship triangle. Frankie and her twin sister share a best friend until, as is often the way of middle-school friendship challenges, they don't. When the best friend, Colette, disappears, this dynamic is intensified, and the narrative becomes a detective novel. Patrick makes adept use of secrets, red herrings, disappeared documents, and phone videos to construct a clever and suspenseful mystery where, in time-honored tradition, kids defy authority and solve the puzzle themselves. Frankie, the narrator, hovers between reliable and unreliable as her several neurological conditions: attention deficit disorder, Asperger's syndrome, and sensory processing disorder influence her perspective. We get right inside her distinctive take on the world, and in her specificity, Frankie joins other memorable protagonists who are not neurologically typical, such as Willow in Counting by 7s (rev. 9/13) and Rose in Rain Reign (rev. 9/14). Her tendency to overexplain makes sense in the circumstances, but it does overwhelm the storytelling at points, especially at its tragic denouement. However, the detailed setting and a strong cast of supporting characters, including the twins' exhausted mother and a kindly boy who like likes Frankie, make this a satisfying reading experience. Copyright 2021 Horn Book Guide Reviews.
Horn Book Magazine Reviews
Set in a quirky tourist town on the Washington State coast, this story presents an original variation on the relationship triangle. Frankie and her twin sister share a best friend until, as is often the way of middle-school friendship challenges, they don't. When the best friend, Colette, disappears, this dynamic is intensified, and the narrative becomes a detective novel. Patrick makes adept use of secrets, red herrings, disappeared documents, and phone videos to construct a clever and suspenseful mystery where, in time-honored tradition, kids defy authority and solve the puzzle themselves. Frankie, the narrator, hovers between reliable and unreliable as her "several neurological conditions: attention deficit disorder, Asperger's syndrome, and sensory processing disorder" influence her perspective. We get right inside her distinctive take on the world, and in her specificity, Frankie joins other memorable protagonists who are not neurologically typical, such as Willow in Counting by 7s (rev. 9/13) and Rose in Rain Reign (rev. 9/14). Her tendency to overexplain makes sense in the circumstances, but it does overwhelm the storytelling at points, especially at its tragic denouement. However, the detailed setting and a strong cast of supporting characters, including the twins' exhausted mother and a kindly boy who like likes Frankie, make this a satisfying reading experience. Sarah Ellis September/October 2020 p.103 Copyright 2020 Horn Book Magazine Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
For tornado-focused seventh grader Frankie, "Manners seem like wrapping words in cotton balls." She's known since fourth grade that she isn't like other kids. Frankie's bothered by scratchy clothes, being touched, socializing, change, being different from her twin, Tess, but probably most of all by the end of her only friendship—with Colette, whom she's known since kindergarten. Now Colette has disappeared, and it seems that Frankie was the last person who saw her, but their final contact wasn't a positive one. Colette had turned up unexpectedly and wanted the special notebook that she, Tess, and Frankie had used to document their yearslong game, "dare-or-scare." The police are dismissive of Frankie's realization that after Colette went missing, she posted videos of new "dares." Frankie uses the clues in the videos to launch a search. Tess assists, in the process helping to heal their battered sisterly relationship. Frankie's first-person narration is spot-on as she describes her feelings about her attention-deficit and sensory-processing disorders and her Asperge r's syndrome as well as her distaste for the medications that impair her thinking. Her confusion with her own unexpected emotions as she falls for skateboarder Kai—who's just as smitten with her—is poignant. Although all doesn't end well, this moving account of Frankie's emerging maturity—with extra challenges—is perfect. Colette, Frankie, and Frankie's family seem to be white; it's suggested that Kai is a boy of color. An intriguing mystery embedded within a richly insightful coming-of-age story. (author's note) (Fiction. 10-13) Copyright Kirkus 2020 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
