Review: The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June by Robin Benway

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June
by Robin Benway
Published August 2010
Razorbill
Young Adult Fiction with a splash of Fantasy

Three sisters share a magical, unshakable bond in this witty high-concept novel from the critically acclaimed author of Audrey, Wait! Around the time of their parents’ divorce, sisters April, May, and June recover special powers from childhood—powers that come in handy navigating the hell that is high school. Powers that help them cope with the hardest year of their lives. But could they have a greater purpose?

April, the oldest and a bit of a worrier, can see the future. Middle-child May can literally disappear. And baby June reads minds—everyone’s but her own. When April gets a vision of disaster, the girls come together to save the day and reconcile their strained family. They realize that no matter what happens, powers or no powers, they’ll always have each other.

Because there’s one thing stronger than magic: sisterhood.

Photo and summary from Goodreads.com

Alright, so I have a secret (well, not so secret anymore) fascination with mind-reading, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to read this book (and I am glad I read it!).  I’m always interested in how the author will handle mind-reading as well as what they’ll have everyone think.  It’s also something I sometimes wish I had, but know I’d hate it if I had it.  I love reading these kinds of books because I can live vicariously through the mind-reader and I don’t have to worry about the whole consequence thing.

After all of that, this book is not about mind-reading.  In fact, it’s not so much about the powers themselves, but instead about the sisters having some big changes forced upon them (a divorce, a move, and SUPERPOWERS) and having to adjust their lives and their relationships with each other.

1.  Robin Benway did a fantastic job portraying three closely aged high school sisters (the youngest being a freshman and the oldest being a junior).  Although she followed the stereotypical family roles (oldest is controlling, middle feels invisible, youngest feels belittled and babied) almost exaggeratedly(their powers even relate to their roles),  I loved how she handled the friction and love that comes with having a sister.

2.  This book handles divorce well.  While the family is obviously hurting, this portrays a family that isn’t shattered by the divorce.  I feel like she walked a good line of realism in between “cheesy-let’s-all-band-together-and-love-each-other” and “all-three-girls-fall-into-drugs-and-get-bad-grades”.  That’s one thing I LOVED about this book– how even though there were supernatural occurrences, it was so true to life on every.single.level.

3.  Benway splits the book up so each sister is able to narrate and I love that she did that.  It provides three perspectives on the same situations (all the while not being too repetitive!).  Also, that gives us readers a better chance to find a character to relate to.

4.  Because you’re in each sister’s head you’re able to get to know them intimately and know their true feelings for each other.  This made it sooooo easy to become invested in the girls and care about what happens to them.  I think I would have liked to keep reading even if there wasn’t a potential disaster on its way.

5. With books I tend to like to glean something from them.  An idea.  An aspiration.  A quote.  I can’t say I got anything from this book, but I did enjoy it and had fun reading it!  I do hope we see the sisters again and Extraordinary Secrets… turns into a series or a trilogy (or something along those lines).  I closed the book wanting to read more.  It’s a really good family book and we don’t see a lot of those.

Ultimate Review: I’m personally probably going to read this again sometime.  Also, I’d definitely give this as a gift to a sister or a cousin in high school if I had one.
Number of parentheses in this post: 16!  Oops.  Hahahaha