Title: All the Ways to Go
Author: Jessie Janowitz
Major Themes: Board Games, Friendship
Synopsis: Despite being a chess prodigy, Milo has realized that he no longer enjoys chess—but how can he tell his mom without disappointing her?
When I saw that All the Ways to Go was coming out, I jumped at the chance to review it. Our family loved Janowitz’s Doughnut series, and I figured that if we enjoyed that, we’d enjoy this one, too. I had high hopes for the story, and instead of doing my normal proofreading of the book, I decided we’d share the first read experience as a family in our evening read-aloud time. I couldn’t wait to dive into it!
Publisher’s description:
Milo Bloom, chess prodigy, has a secret: he doesn’t want to play chess anymore. So he blows a major tournament on purpose instead of telling anyone. If no one knows he wants to quit, then no one can be disappointed.
The problem is, winning that tournament was a ticket to chess camp, and the loss means his summer plans are shot. Enter Roxie, a girl he’s never met, who shows up at his door to tell him he and his mom will be spending the summer at her house…what?
Surprise! Before Milo knows what’s hit him, he’s living at Roxie’s house, where creepy cats rule, meat products are banned, and Roxie, who doesn’t seem to understand the concept of personal space, won’t give him a second alone.
But when Milo and Roxie stumble across two people playing a fascinating game they’ve never seen before, they become determined to learn the ancient game of Go. Between late-night library adventures and creating a Go club at their camp, Milo and Roxie form an unexpected friendship, but none of that matters if Milo can’t face his fears and tell his mom how he really feels.
My thoughts:
After starting to read All the Ways to Go aloud, my family, as predicted, enjoyed it. Then we got up to chapter four, where it mentions that the main character’s father was a “donor dad,” presented as a normal and okay thing (along with some description of how donor dads work). Because of that, I decided to forego reading aloud for a while and finish the book myself before deciding whether or not to finish reading it to everyone. In the end, I decided I would finish reading it aloud—by skipping a couple of paragraphs in two separate chapters, we can still enjoy the rest of the story.
Overall, this is a good book—and I wouldn’t be surprised if it would have gotten close to a 5-star rating from me if that particular topic wasn’t in there. Since it was there, and since there was some other “do whatever makes you happy” ideology (which, in the way that was interpreted in this book, appears to me to be against what God wants for us), I ended up giving it 3 ½ stars. Sigh. I don’t like doing that to otherwise good books! Another thing I noticed was some superstitious/mystical terminology surrounding the game Go, with the main character thinking the game was helping him make sense of his life.
I did enjoy many elements of this story. The main character has a cat phobia, for example…and then has to go stay at a place that has a plethora of cats. It’s got many hilarious moments, and even while I was proofreading it, trying to decide whether or not to finish reading it aloud, I stopped a couple of times to share particularly salient points with my family.
This is also a sweet story of self-discovery and friendship—and learning to get along with other people. As someone who loves board games, I was tickled that that was a major theme of this story.
Overall, I did enjoy most of All the Ways to Go. But because of the topics discussed above, I don’t feel like I can recommend it. We will enjoy it together as a family, but I doubt I’ll ever be tempted to buy my own copy of the story.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book, and this is my honest opinion of it.
WARNING: Jeez is used in ch. 1, 8, 12, 14, 19, 21, 34, 40, and 52; “I swear” is used in ch. 2, 3 (twice), 10, 24, 25, 32, and 47; “holy crudcicle” is used in ch. 7, 14, and 28; “holy smokes” is used in ch. 9; “scared the bajeezus” is used in ch. 14 (twice) and 39; “holy adorable cluelessness” is used in ch. 23; someone starts saying “holy—” in ch. 36 and 42; “smart-ass” is used in ch. 38; and crap is used in ch. 50. There is lying in ch. 4, 5, 6, 7, 16, 22, 32, 33, 42, 43, and 52. Chapters 4 and 16 talk about donor dads (there’s about a paragraph each place talking about it, mentioning “mom ingredients” and “dad ingredients” and comparing it to baking a cake). “Mom-and-dad-ingredients” are mentioned again in ch. 43. In chapter 11, a woman talks about how she made choices that would “make her happy”, as if that’s the ultimate goal in life, regardless of whether those choices are good/Godly choices or not.
Age levels:
Listening Level—Ages 8 – 12, 10 – 12
Reading Independently—Ages 8 – 12, 10 – 12, 12 – 15
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Kindle | Hardcover | Audible Audiobook (unabridged)
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
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