This is a sweet intermediate read about a children dealing with regret, grief, death, and relationships. The beginning of the book includes a lot of letters and emails back and forth between characters and is a little choppy as it transitions from summer camp to the main character going back to her home, etc. It would be more powerful to see what Tash and Cap'n Jackie's relationship looked and felt like before they're no longer able to talk to one another due to a health deterioration by one of the characters/. Since that development wasn't there, as the reader, I didn't feel as connected or invested in the characters. ( )

The Key to Everything is intended for middle grade readers. Some of the themes in this story are abandonment, having a parent in prison, agoraphobia, nursing homes, end of life/will to live, alternative life styles, and friendship. These sensitive subjects are handled in a straight forward and easy manner. I would recommend this book and suggest that a parent or teacher read it ahead of time so that they may discuss the questions that are likely to arise. Three stars. ( )

Tasha lives with her Uncle Kevin because her dad is in prison. He is super reliable, as her alcoholic father never was. But the touchstone in her life has become Captain Jackie, the woman who lives next door and cares for Tasha when her uncle is at work so she doesn't have to be alone. The Captain takes a fall while Tasha is at camp, and her recovery is not going well. Desperately, Tasha searches for the key and the hope to solve all the Captain's ills and make her want to stay. ( )

The Key to Everything is a bout a young girl who is sent off to camp, when she returns her life is turned upside down when her neighbor Jackie is gone. There is so much more to this book though... and I don't want to spoil it.



It took me a few days to digest this book after reading it. It follows a girl named Tash who is still young and right now she is bitter about having to go to camp for the summer. The book is about 200 pages and it is a middle grade read so it was a quick one but it was also a very emotional one. It will bring back feelings of being a misunderstood 11 year old and hating everything or if you are 11 and reading it - you will completely understand where Tash is coming from. It is also sad. Tash is troubled to begin with but she has Jackie, their elderly neighbor, who stays with her during the day and they come up with these elaborate stories and magical worlds together. It sounds pretty great for Tash but not so good when something happens to Jackie.

I really really don't want to go into too much detail about this plot because I think it adds to it not to know what is going to happen. Tash is learning to grow up in this book and sometimes it takes some hard-knocks to get there.

If you are looking for a contemporary read this was a good read, it is emotional though, so be prepared. I also think that all ages would do well reading this book it was beautiful. ( )

I received a free advanced copy of this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

This has been a hard book to review because on one hand I really liked the story which is about a girl named Tash who comes home from camp to find her next-door-neighbor/babysitter/grandmother figure Cap’n Jackie in a rehab hospital after falling and breaking her hip. On the other hand, the characters and their backstories are not fleshed out enough and leave me wanted to know more about their past to understand their present. You learn bits and pieces about them as the story unfolds, but it can be jarring at first because you are thrown into the story right from the start with Tash going to summer camp while her Uncle (who’s her guardian) goes off to New Zealand for a month. At first, I thought the story would follow her time in camp, but that ends after a short chapter and then Tash comes home to find Cap’n Jackie in the hospital and not talking to anyone. You learn a little about how Tash ended up living with her Uncle because her father is in jail, you learn a little about Vanessa who was the most important person in Cap’n Jackie’s life and you learn a little about Kevin who was raised by Cap’n Jackie and now lives in NYC. There’s also the belief of Cap’n Jackie and Tash that a “magic” key helps them imagine Draphin who is a half-dragon, half-dolphin character.

There’s some good lessons about forgiveness, death, friendship and family in this book as you learn more about the characters. Overall though, I felt like I was tuning in to watch the rest of a TV series without having seen the first few episodes and trying to catch up on the relationships between the characters. If you take this book for what it is and don’t overthink it like us adults tend to do, it’s a good story that I could see a lot of upper elementary/middle school students enjoying. ( )