Hello and happy Monday. Is today also a holiday in Colombia? Indeed, it is and I feel like it’s my last day of vacation because tomorrow I start a new teaching job with kind of weird hours. But I know you’re not here for that, you’re here because yesterday I finished reading a book and you want me to tell you what I think about it. It took me two days to read Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead, but it’ll take a while for me to forget how warm and cozy it made me feel.

Now, before I started reading this book, I was kind of scared because I’d read another book by this author and it went completely over my head. I can’t even tell you what it was about because I understood nothing from it. I’m pretty sure I kept it, so I might re-read it and see if I can actually get something from it. Anyway, back to Goodbye Stranger. It wasn’t like that other book at all. This is a middle grade novel that alternates between three different perspectives, but whose main character is Bridge, a seventh-grader who is basically exploring life and friendships and becoming a teenager but not really feeling like a teenager “should.” The fact that she still thought and acted like a kid was super relatable because as I’ve mentioned in other reviews, I was a late bloomer.

As I read this as an almost thirty year old I kept thinking how this would’ve been the perfect book for fourteen-year-old Camila, which is why I’ll totally recommend this novel, especially for people like me who are responsible for young people and who can be an influence as they figure out their lives and themselves. We also read from the perspective of Sherm, a boy who becomes Bridge’s friend and the way their friendship develops is so wholesome and he’s just a beautiful character who’s dealing with the loss of his grandfather, not because he died (he didn’t) but because he decided to move to a different state, leaving his family behind. I have also told you, I think, about my complicated relationship with my grandfather, so it felt like this book had been written for me. The other perspective we read is from a high school freshman who decides to skip school on Valentine’s Day and we follow them throughout the day, as well as the events that led to them deciding to skip school.

Again, this is a beautiful novel that feels like a warm hug and that I feel more people get to read and enjoy.