Are we controlled by fate or do we control our own destiny? That’s the exact question the characters in Tumble and Blue, a novel by Cassie Beasley, are determined to figure out. Due to a family legend passed down from generation to generation, Blue has grown up thinking he is cursed and in fact everyone in his family is as well. Some have good curses that lead to fame and fortune, like Blue’s dad who always wins. Others, like Blue who can’t win at anything, have bad curses. The legend however states that once in a blood red moon can someone reverse their fate, if they go into the swamp and convince Munch, a mythical golden alligator, to bless them with a better fate. Blue is determined to be the one to find him. However, so are many of his relatives.
Just as Blue is trying to figure out how he is going to actually win at something and to be the one to find Munch, along comes hero-in-training Tumble who is set on helping Blue. She has her own set of problems though and her whole being a hero act usually backfires, through no fault of her own. Neither Tumble or Blue want to be in podunk Murky Beach, but they make the best of it and become friends. This friendship is what eventually leads them to working together to help undo the curse, but also gives each a hope that things aren’t as bad as they seem or are made out to be.
Tumble and Blue is a creative look at how we can control what and who we become, and how we don’t have to become what others say we are. It’s also a story about friendship, and how we should help one another out. A fun-filled, sometimes quirky read that leaves the reader thinking about how we let fate and destiny run our own lives.
Review of an Advance Reading Copy
This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Dial Books for Young Readers
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 2 religious exclamations.
Violence/Gore: Story recounted of someone shooting their husband (one sentence, no details given); secondhand account of someone having stood up to school bullies and ending up with a broken arm; secondhand account of older kid bullying some little kids; character is run over by a deer which results in a big gash that requires stitches on his leg; story told of how a person was allegedly eaten by an alligator; character has flares that were being carried in a backpack accidently lit; character gives an account of how her brother died saving her from a house fire; story told of someone having stabbed her husband.
Sex/Nudity: None
Mature Subject Matter:
Death.
Alcohol / Drug Use:
Man described as seeming to be drunk.
