The Children’s Book Review | September 10, 2019
Lindsay Lackey has trained as an opera singer, worked in children’s and teen services at a public library, and worked for a major publishing house in publicity and marketing. Born and raised in Colorado, she now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and their spoiled dog. All the Impossible Things is her debut novel.
Lindsay Lackey’s Selfie with All the Impossible Things
I took this photo on a recent trip to San Francisco, at the famous Lincoln Park Stairs. These tiled stairs are a gorgeous splash of color amidst fairly drab apartment buildings, and they lead up to a lovely green space that has views of the city and the water. The day I took this picture, I was taking one of the characters in my book—Marvin, a ten-year-old aspiring filmmaker and my main character’s best friend—on a tour of some places I knew he’d love in San Francisco: most notably, the Lucas Films campus that has a Yoda fountain outside. (And by “taking him on a tour,” I mean I was taking pictures of my book in these places…obviously.)
The Lincoln Park Stairs are a monument intended to “educate, encourage and empower girls,” which seems like the perfect backdrop for my story. In All the Impossible Things, my main character is eleven-year-old Red, who has spent the last three years in the foster care system. Red is eagerly counting down the days until her mom is released from prison, and she keeps a journal that tracks impossible things—or rather, things that once seemed impossible, but she’s proving that they aren’t. Things like bumblebees being able to fly, humans going to the moon, or living without something you really need, like a head, for example. Red’s story is about empowerment, about having the courage to acknowledge what you want and what you need, and about learning how to navigate grief and joy, love and loss, without getting swept away by them in the process.
Lindsay Lackey’s Shelfie
I think the most obvious thing people will learn from looking at my shelves is that I love reading middle grade and YA books! The vast majority of my personal library—which, at last count, was nearing 500 books—is made up of MG and YA titles. You’ll spy some clear influences on All the Impossible Things on my shelves, including When You Reach Meby Rebecca Stead, Savvyby Ingrid Law, The Thing About Jellyfishby Ali Benjamin, and pretty much any title by Katherine Paterson, Kate DiCamillo, and Madeleine L’Engle I can get my hands on! You’ll also spot a few extra goodies—like my stuffed tortoise named Tuck Everlasting, who goes with me to bookstore and school events, a planter I made out of old books, and some antique bookshelf labels from an old bookstore. They don’t correlate with my collection at all, but I loved them so much, I had to use them anyway.
To learn more about Lindsay Lackey, visit: www.lindsaylackey.com and Instagram.com/lindsaywrites.
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Written by Lindsay Lackey
Publisher’s Synopsis: Red’s inexplicable power over the wind comes from her mother. Whenever Ruby “Red” Byrd is scared or angry, the wind picks up. And being placed in foster care, moving from family to family, tends to keep her skies stormy. Red knows she has to learn to control it, but can’t figure out how.
This time, the wind blows Red into the home of the Grooves, a quirky couple who run a petting zoo, complete with a dancing donkey and a giant tortoise. With their own curious gifts, Celine and Jackson Groove seem to fit like a puzzle piece into Red’s heart.
But just when Red starts to settle into her new life, a fresh storm rolls in, one she knows all too well: her mother. For so long, Red has longed to have her mom back in her life, and she’s quickly swept up in the vortex of her mother’s chaos. Now Red must discover the possible in the impossible if she wants to overcome her own tornadoes and find the family she needs.
Ages 8-12 | Publisher: Roaring Brook Press | September 3, 2019 | ISBN-13: 978-1250202864
Buy the Book
Order an autographed copy at bit.ly/atitsigned
Discover more books like All the Impossible Things, written by Lindsay Lackey, by checking out our reviews and articles tagged with Foster Care and Middle Grade Books; and be sure to follow along with our Selfie and a Shelfie series.