While technically a story about a girl who develops the ability of telekinesis, Leah Johnson’s Bree Boyd is a Legend!, the second story in the world of Ellie Engle, is above all a book about family. Or more accurately, a book about finding your own identity within your family. And how appropriate a topic for the intended reader—children heading into and enduring their middle school years—a time when their sense of self expands beyond their nuclear family.
Seventh grader Bree Boyd is a district spelling bee champion, which would mean a lot in some families, but when you come from a family where over-achieving is seen as the bare minimum, you are not done until you win it all. According to Bree’s father, a poli-sci professor taking a run at an Indiana state senate position, Boyds always win.
With the pressure of prepping for the regional spelling bee, maintaining perfect grades, and being a model daughter for her father’s campaign, Bree’s life is full of expectation. Propelled by her father’s voice in her head saying you have to be twice as good to get half as much, Bree rarely has time for anything that does not contribute to “excellence.”
But, when Bree’s friendships with Ellie, Abby, and Sammy lead her to set aside the extra studying in order to perform in the school Talent Showcase, Bree must decide what is more important to her—the risk of disappointing her father or disappointing her friends.
True to form, Leah Johnson, has written a book filled with deep insights and just as many laugh-out-loud hijinks. The thoughtful coming-of-age story takes a slight segue into the supernatural which is on par in the world of Johnson’s critically acclaimed Ellie Engle Saves the World Herself, when Bree develops telekinesis after a run-in with an electrically charged breaker box.
However, rather than leading the plot, Bree’s superpowers highlight her desire to be herself—her whole self—and be it for herself more than for anyone else. Bree’s ability to control objects with her mind, while fantastic, manages to be the subplot in a story so full of beautiful truths that it almost feels unnecessary. Readers will love Bree for who she is becoming whether she can make gaudy hats fly off the head of a noisy church lady or cause leaky water pipes to break above the heads of eighth grade bullies.
This book is very much worth the read. Give it to the middle schooler in your life. Let them add it to their bag of examples of how to live.
