Blog Tour: Mustaches for Maddie by Chad Morris and Shelly Brown

 Mustaches for Maddie by Chad Morris and Shelly Brown

Book Description:

Maddie is a normal twelve-year-old girl. Well, except for the fake mustaches she carries in her pocket. She likes to make people laugh and slapping on a mustache, especially a fuzzy pink or neon green one, always gets a smile. Maddie hopes that the class queen, Cassie, will find her mustaches as funny as she does and want to play with her at recess. She's been self-conscious lately because her right arm only feels normal when it's curled against her chest and she's constantly tripping over her feet. But that's probably just part of growing up and not something weird, right?

When Maddie's arm continues to bother her, her parents take her to a doctor who gives them a shocking diagnosis: the cause of the abnormal behavior of her limbs is a brain tumor and she must have surgery to remove it. She's understandably afraid as he describes the procedure, but knows she must find a way to be brave and must face her fears--all of them--at the hospital, at home and at school.

She will need all of her courage not only to face her illness, but also to face Cassie at school. Both Cassie and Maddie are auditioning for the same role in the school play, but when Cassie accuses Maddie of lying about her tumor in order to get attention, Cassie's bossiness turns into bullying.

And as Maddie's surgery approaches, she begins to worry more and more about the outcome. What if something goes wrong? What if the doctors don't get all the tumor out of her brain? What will happen to her family? What will happen to her?

It will take all of Maddie's vibrant imagination, a lot of kindness-both given and received-and of course, the perfect mustache to overcome the tough stuff ahead of her.

Andrea's Review:

When I first heard about the name of this book, I wasn't sure what to think, but it is a WONDERFUL read. Make sure you have some tissues handy, and then sit back and enjoy the ride.

Sixth grade was a long time ago, but it was easy to remember the game of trying to find your place. It is so sad that our human nature is to be selfish. Of course, not everyone is, but it's so easy to think the worst of others instead of trying to find out why they act the way they do. Mustaches for Maddie was inspiring in its lesson on compassion. And, that it just takes one brave person to make things better.

I highly recommend this book, and have given it to my kids to read.

Tarah's Review:

This book was a sweet, uplifting, funny, touching read. I loved reading about Maddie and her imagination. I love how she found the courage to be herself, even when it wasn't "popular". I love how she stood up for others, including the "bully". And I loved her mustaches :)

There are so many things I loved about this book. In fact, right after I finished reading it I handed it to my 7th grade daughter and told her to read it. I hope she does, and I hope she gets as much or more out of it than I did.

This middle grade book is one I think should be read by middle schoolers everywhere. But make sure you grab a box of tissues, because the emotions are real and you can't help but cheer on Maddie!

Rorie's Review:

This is a quick, enjoyable book to read. Shortly after I got this in the mail, several of the teachers in my kids' school posted on Facebook about how excited they were to be getting this book and reading it to their classes. Prior to that, I really didn't know much at all about Maddie's story.

Maddie is such a sweet, lovable person. I absolutely love her vivid imagination and all the games she comes up with. Her mustache antics made me smile too. She is such a sweet-hearted girl and my heart just broke for her with all the trials that she was going through with the brain tumor and the mean girl at school, all at the same time. It amazes me that through all of it, she was able to remain happy and optimistic, even though she was very scared.

I definitely recommend this book for just about every age. I think it can bring up several great discussions on bullying, being friends to everyone, and how we react to the trials we are given. I am so glad that Maddie's parents chose to write down Maddie's story to share with all of us.

Title: Mustaches for Maddie
Author: Chad Morris and Shelly Brown
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Published: October 2017
ISBN: 1629723304
Source: We received copies from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase: Amazon | Deseret Book