Hummingbird by Natalie Lloyd

 Hummingbird by Natalie Lloyd (368 pages)

Synopsis: Twelve-year-old homeschooled Olive is tired of being seen as “fragile” just because she has osteogenesis imperfecta (otherwise known as brittle bone disease) so she’s thrilled when she finally convinces her parents to let her attend Macklemore Elementary. Olive can’t wait to go to a traditional school and make the friends she’s always longed for, until a disastrous first day dashes her hopes of ever fitting in.

Then Olive hears whispers about a magical, wish-granting hummingbird that supposedly lives near Macklemore. It’ll be the solution to all her problems! If she can find the bird and prove herself worthy, the creature will make her most desperate, secret wish come true.

When it becomes clear that she can’t solve the mystery on her own, Olive teams up with some unlikely allies who help her learn the truth about the bird. And on the way, she just might learn that our fragile places lead us to the most wonderful magic of all . . .

Opinion: This is a Mark Twain Award Nominee. I enjoyed this chapter book a lot. It made me smile and cry multiple times. I do wish I could've seen how the Hummingbird impacted the characters a few weeks or months down the line after its arrival. But I really appreciate how all of the characters were written. Even characters that sometimes oppose Olive are humanized which is nice.