The Unforgotten Coat (original 2011; edition 2011)

For some reason this book didn't really grab me like I was hoping it would. At the beginning I didn't care for the author's voice, and I wasn't feeling the choice to have the author narrate as her adult self. In the end I understood why that choice was made, but the narrative voice sounded like a child's voice and not an adult's. I think that's also why I didn't really get the story from the beginning, because I was assuming the narrator was reliable, since she was telling it from her adult perspective. She knew, as an adult, that these kids were just messing with everyone, that their coats and photos weren't really from Mongolia and that everyone treating them like they didn't know American culture were probably just being strung along. But the narration really sounded like a child's voice, who believed all of the things that Chingis was telling her and not an adult who had an adult skepticism about the whole thing. So it all kind of felt really forced, and not as magical as I feel they were probably going for. The afterword was cute, though, because it was a real story. I wish this book had been a non-fiction account of that truth instead of the fictional version of it. ( )

I was unsure of this book because it seemed so different from his others, but in the end I quite enjoyed it. I suspect it will stay with me for some time. It would make a great read-aloud in an upper elementary or middle school classroom. ( )

This was going to be a quick read so that I could squeeze in one more review for the library children's department before the month ended. I chose Boyce's new book despite its awkward title because I was rather taken with the only other book of his I'd read, Millions. Then I wasn't even able to review it for the library because the reviews are supposed to be recommendations, which means I must find the book to have earned at least three stars.

Unlike Millions, this book seems like it was hastily written and published. The narrative is not cohesive. It seems like Boyce wrote the story to raise awareness among kids about the difficulties and issues surrounding immigration (Julie, the main character, gets to know two brothers in her class who have immigrated to the UK from Mongolia with their parents).

The story contains sweet moments and a bit of adventure, but Boyce can do much better. ( )

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