Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe

May 1, 2018

Gr 4-6-After her father passes away and her mama runs off, Cricket decides to head out on a quest to find a mysterious room her mama always talked about. Her only clue is a coin from an abandoned ghost town. Living in an old treehouse in the woods, she searches for her next lead with the help of her daddy's old guidebook. Meanwhile, everyone is looking for her and if they find her, she'll have to go live with GAG, her great-aunt Genevieve. Cricket is an intriguing and complex protagonist, and the plot, full of adventure, treasure hunts, and mystery, will keep young readers hooked. Humorous chapter titles set the tone for each new discovery. VERDICT An entertaining addition to libraries where quirky Southern mystery adventures are in demand.-Kira Moody, Salt Lake County Library Services

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2018
What lies beyond the trees promises to bring one of two things--either powerful glory or terrible heartache. Told in the easy, laconic tone of good, Southern storytelling, Hackl's debut rolls off the tongue and into the heart easy as warm butter on a biscuit. Set near the now-empty mill town of Electric City, Mississippi, the story deals with issues of loss, abandonment, and coping with the instability mental illness can bring to a family. Protagonist Cricket is searching for her absent mama. She believes that if she goes into the woods where daddy taught her about the land and mama taught her about birds and flowers and painting, she'll find the answers she's been seeking. However, it takes gumption to run off into the Mississippi woods straight toward a ghost town--and learning how to survive on her own isn't so easy either. Hackl does a great job of describing Cricket's adventure through her hunter-gatherer skills--from finding bamboo shoots in the dirt to what to do with a "field of clover, dandelion greens, wild onion, and two hickory nut trees." Cricket, with her pet cricket (named Charlene) and her unwavering belief in her mama, learns that some people can't be changed and that life can be both beautiful and cruel. Cricket seems to be white.Lyrical and endearing, this debut is a genuine adventure tale, poignant and as fresh as a spring garden. (Fiction. 8-12)

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July 16, 2018
In this emotional first novel, the 12-year-old narrator, Cricket, poses an essential question: “Just how far will you go to get your mama back?” After the death of Cricket’s grandmother, her mother “went to pieces” and then “ran off.” Cricket is left with her steady father, but his sudden death thrusts her into the care of a scheming aunt. When lonely Cricket learns that she’ll be sent to a greedy second cousin, and she’s subsequently abandoned in a grocery store, she flees to the woods, along with a new pet—an actual cricket, which she names Charlene. Together, they set out to solve a mystery that Cricket hopes will bring her mother home. Hackl crafts an authentic, memorable character in Cricket as she pieces her mother’s mood swings, medicine, and eccentric behavior into a penetrating and mature realization about mental illness. This piercing, often humorous adventure demonstrates how facing the truth can bring freedom and hope. Ages 8–12.

June 1, 2018
Grades 4-6 After enduring Grandma's death, Mama's unexpected departure (again), and Daddy's fatal heart attack, 12-year-old Cricket pins her hopes on her mother's return and her own abilities. Fleeing Aunt Belinda's care, she hides out in the woods and searches an abandoned, overgrown town for clues leading to the bird room, which her mentally unstable mother saw as a child and has longed to visit again. Cricket has never seen the room, meticulously painted with lifelike pictures of local species, but it takes on magical importance for her. Following clues left by the artist, she searches for the mysterious place and discovers so much more. Set in Mississippi, where Hackl lived as a child, the story is colorfully narrated by Cricket, who comes across as idiosyncratic, intrepid, and wholly likable. Her loyal pet cricket may seem fanciful, but the trials that the girl endures in the woods, from cold to hunger to a snakebite, are realistically portrayed. An author's note discusses her inspirations for certain elements of the story. An engaging first novel with a distinctive Southern setting.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)