A Book Review of Not Lucille by Mike Steele

Hello, everyone! Isabelle Knight back here again with another MG book review! ^^ So I’ve been MIA (missing-in-action) for a lil while now, and that’s because life has been quite hectic, especially with my new book release, the blog tour, etc, and with me having a few issues with my blog… I honestly am the kind of person who’d rather huddle away in some writing cave, tapping away at my keyboard, and with a book release and me and my book actually needing to be “in the spotlight” so to say, it’s…. hectic.

But anyway, I am now back with another middle-grade book review! This book was one of my favorite books to read this month (one of my favorites of historical fiction, even!), and it’s one I’ve gone back to re-read several times. I’ve actually seen this book floating around MMGM, and it was actually on my to-be-read list when the author very kindly contacted me with a review request!

But first up, one exciting update!!! Enchantria: The Last Hope was just released on July 20th!!! Aah, oh my goodness… It honestly feels so surreal to be saying this!!! You guys have been so supportive and kind, and I really do have to thank all of you for all your support! It’s now available as an ebook on Amazon for $2.99 and you can get it here if you want to read it!

Anyway, now onto the book review! Huge thanks to the author, Mike Steele, for providing the review copy!

The book I shall be reviewing today is Not Lucille by Mike Steele, and it is a middle-grade historical fiction! I haven’t read much historical fiction, and it’s part of the reason why historical fiction is one of the genres I’m really looking to explore some more! So I was quite excited to start reading this book, and it definitely blew me away! I loved all the characters — they were so vivid and real and it really did feel like they came off the page, especially Lucy, Florence, and Miss Gillingham!

Not Lucille follows the adventures of 10-year-old Lucy Contento in the year 1931, and she’s oftentimes in quite some trouble for multiple reasons: talking too much, being impulsive, writing with the wrong hand (Lucy is left-handed like me, actually!), and getting afterschool detentions. She’s also been sneaking off onto the campus of the nearby Trenton Academy for the Deaf, which the other kids have dubbed the ‘Deefies’. But there, she meets a deaf girl named Florence, and the two of them slowly become friends by communicating with written notes and some lip reading. She is determined to figure out how to learn American Sign Language to communicate with her new friend, and so she devises a plan which is going to cost 7.98 dollars — more money than she has to spare. And on top of that, her father has been out of work for months, and no one else in the Contento family has an income. And I probably should end this summary here, otherwise I will for sure start spitballing out spoilers….

I really loved this book! I think this is one of those books that I went into not really knowing what to expect, and it really just blew me away. I finished the whole book in one sitting at breakfast, and when I reached the end, I went back for a re-read almost immediately…

Again, I loved all of the characters in Not Lucille, especially Lucy! I loved how vivid and real their personalities were, especially in all of the ways they interacted with each other. My favorite character is definitely Lucy — she’s an incredibly relatable protagonist and a very real ten-year-old (and I do mean real… I still remember what it’s like to be ten years old, and I think Lucy definitely acts like it), and she is one of those characters who really isn’t perfect and who has a lot of quirks and flaws that make her feel real! And I think that was a really nice change from a lot of the more epic fantasy novels I’ve been reading with a lot of the Chosen One tropes.

I also loved Miss Gillingham’s character! She was another one of those characters who really came off the page, and I loved seeing how how she’s viewed by Lucy really changes throughout the book, and you really get to see that she’s not just the “cranky, grouchy teacher, who dislikes Lucy”, and while she does have a strict way of teaching, that’s just her way of teaching, and she’s actually (in my opinion) a really good person.

I also really loved Lucy and Florence’s friendship. The two of them are kind of opposites, and yet I think that works really well in their friendship, and they really do bring out the best in each other!

The plot of this book was also amazing! I think it has a mix of plot and character drive, which I really love, and it balances pacing really well! We get to see Lucy’s life and some important events in her life and also a few of the shenanigans she gets up to… I won’t spoil anything, but I really do love how everything is written out and how one thing leads to the next, and it really had me hooked till the end!

I honestly had so many favorite scenes in this book that it really is very hard to pick just one… But there is one scene that really stood out to me, and the first is somewhere near the end of the book. I’ll try not to spoil anything, but it is where Lucy and Florence (along with their parents) must meet the principal of Trenton Academy, and none of the adults are really listening to them. Florence and Lucy finally speak out, and it was a really heartwarming scene that I just loved!

The themes in this book are so heartwarming as well! I think the themes were definitely one of my favorite parts about this book! This book definitely has a lot of themes on friendship, prejudice, and really finding your own voice, which along with all of the fun characters and plot, makes this such a wonderful middle-grade book! I also like that the themes are woven really naturally into the story, and it never once feels like it’s just clonking you on the head with lessons/morals!

So yeah! Overall, this was a fantastic middle-grade book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading! Definitely a five star read for me! I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves middle-grade fiction, especially for those who enjoy contemporary books and might want to get into historical fiction — this book isn’t over-the-top with history facts and the world isn’t too different/jarring, so I think it’s great if you’re trying to get into historical fiction.

I suppose this wraps up my review of Not Lucille! I hope you guys enjoyed reading it, and I definitely hope you’ll check out this fantastic historical fiction novel! And I also had the wonderful opportunity to interview Mike on my YouTube channel, which will be posted later on my YouTube channel! I had such a good time talking with Mike, and it was such fun learning more about how he got the inspiration for Not Lucille and so much more!

So yeah! Thank you so much for reading this review, and I shall see you in the next post!

Isabelle

P.S. And if you want to see some more fun middle-grade book reviews, author interviews, spotlights, then do head to Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, which is chock full of those! ^^