The Fire, The Water, and Maudie McGinn by Sally J. Pla
Maudie has autism. She spends the school year with her mom and Ron, and the summers with her dad. She loves spending time with her dad, and she is more at ease with her dad. This summer is different, though. On her first day there, she and her father end up in an emergency shelter due to wildfires. This is a lot for Maudie to deal with, and it doesn’t help that her mom sort of babies her. I get that she has autism, but she needs to try to get through tough things. Her mom is ready to run and grab her that very same day. Maudie doesn’t want to give up her summer with her dad.
Pretty early on in the book, Maudie mentions that her mom has a YouTube channel she runs about makeup. But in April, Autism Awareness Month, she highlights the struggles she has had with Maudie. If you have been online in the past few years, I’m sure you have seen plenty of parents being called out for putting their children online without consent, and I feel like that is what her mom was doing. When Maudie asked her to stop, she agreed to stop filming her. That is a plus for the mom. But she did marry an awful man named Ron. Ron has anger issues. He is not great with Maudie, to say the least. I do not have children, but I feel like no matter how much you love someone, if they mistreat your kids, you shouldn’t be with them.
It does seem like Maudie gets along better with her dad in general, though. After they are evacuated from the fires, they head down to the town where her dad grew up. He is looking for a job, and Maudie is exploring her new temporary home. They are right on the beach! She heads out to the water almost every day to swim! She meets new people, makes a friend, and even finds someone to help her learn to surf. She is doing so well that she signed up for a competition to earn prize money to help her dad.
She is learning a lot about her autism and how to navigate life. There are many great tips and stories throughout the book. She is amazing at how she processes things. The book is written in first person, so you really understand what she is thinking and feeling.
I would say that there is a happy ending, but I felt some people did not get what they deserved. I leave it at that.
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