Review: Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts

Title: Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts
Author: Esta Spalding
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: Tundra Books
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 3, 2016
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Kim Fitzgerald-Trout took to driving with ease–as most children would if their parents would ever let them try. She had to. After all, she and her siblings live in a car. 

Meet the Fitzgerald-Trouts, a band of four loosely related children living together in a lush tropical island. They take care of themselves. They sleep in their car, bathe in the ocean, eat fish they catch and fruit they pick, and can drive anywhere they need to go–to the school, the laundromat, or the drive-in. If they put their minds to it, the Fitzgerald-Trouts can do anything. Even, they hope, find a real home. 

Award-winning poet and screenwriter Esta Spalding’s exciting middle grade debut establishes a marvelous place where children fend for themselves, and adults only seem to ruin everything. This extraordinary world is brought to vibrant life by Sydney Smith, the celebrated artist behind Sidewalk Flowers.

Review:

This was such a fun story. I started to read the latest book in this series, but I couldn’t understand it because of the complicated relationships. I’m so glad that I went back to the beginning of the series, because it is a great introduction to the characters.

This story reminded me of A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Fitzgerald-Trout children live on their own, without their parents. The narrator is also a character in the same way as Lemony Snicket. However, the Fitzgerald-Trouts are not running away from a villain like Count Olaf.

I loved the unconventional family of the Fitzgerald-Trouts. All of the kids think of themselves as brothers and sisters, even though they aren’t all related. They have a mixture of four different parents, with some sharing a mother while others share a father. This family is complicated in an exaggerated way, but it is important to have these kinds of unconventional family structures in novels, especially kids books. Kids who read this story may see their own family reflected in some part of this family.

I loved this story! I’m excited to read the rest of the series!

What to read next:

Have you read Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts? What did you think of it?