We Are All So Good at Smiling

Name: We Are All So Good at Smiling
Brand: Macmillan Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Amber McBride
ISBN: 9781250877413

Author: Amber McBride

Narrator: Amber McBride

Unabridged: 3 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Macmillan Young Listeners

Published: 01/10/2023

Categories: Young Adult Fiction, Social Themes, Diversity & Multicultural, Novels In Verse

Synopsis

"McBride brings a special gift to this production by narrating her own material." - AudioFile Magazine

This audiobook features music and special effects. Listen along and enjoy the fun that is We Are All So Good at Smiling.

This program is read by the author.

They Both Die at the End meets The Bell Jar in this haunting, beautiful young adult novel-in-verse about clinical depression and healing from trauma, from National Book Award Finalist Amber McBride.

Whimsy is back in the hospital for treatment of clinical depression. When she meets a boy named Faerry, she recognizes they both have magic in the marrow of their bones. And when Faerry and his family move to the same street, the two start to realize that their lifelines may have twined and untwined many times before.

They are both terrified of the forest at the end of Marsh Creek Lane.

The Forest whispers to Whimsy. The Forest might hold the answers to the part of Faerry he feels is missing. They discover the Forest holds monsters, fairy tales, and pain that they have both been running from for 11 years.

A Macmillan Audio production from Feiwel & Friends.

About Amber McBride

Amber McBride estimates she reads about 100 books a year. Her work has been published in literary magazines including Ploughshares and Provincetown Arts. Her debut young adult novel, Me (Moth) was a finalist for the National Book Award, and won the 2022 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, among many other accolades. She is a professor of creative writing at University of Virginia, and lives in Charlottesville, Virgina.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Marieke on September 11, 2022

We Are All so Good at Smiling. A smile can mean fun. A smile can show warmth. A smile can be out of love. And a smile can be a mask to hide all the feelings we have inside from the people around us. This YA novel in verse including a magical touch about a Black girl who deals with clinical depression......more

Goodreads review by Whitney on January 29, 2023

I like novels in verse. I like Fantasy and Magical Realism. I have depression and anxiety and childhood trauma. This should've hit me right where I live and instead, I was very disappointed. The magical elements are very poorly done. There's a glossary for anything you're unfamiliar with, but there'......more

Goodreads review by Giovanawashere on February 01, 2023

Wow, this book was so beautiful! The chapters are written as poems and man… I wish I could write poetry or beautifully like that. This book deals with chronic depression, complicated families, sorrow, and mentions of suicide and self-harm from a teenager’s perspective, and it is so relatable. As a t......more

Goodreads review by Jan on March 13, 2023

this is a novel written in verse about clinical depression with a bunch of fairytale/folklore metaphors thrown in, which overall is a unique way to tell a story about depression, and I enjoyed it, but sometimes the core of the story got lost in all the abstract whimsical stuff......more

Goodreads review by akacya ❦ on December 02, 2022

Content warnings: racism, bullying, death, self harm, suicidal ideation, panic attacks This is a novel-in-verse depicting the main character’s clinical depression and trauma. While in treatment for depression, Whimsy meets Faerry, who she realizes has magic, just like her. They become increasingly aw......more

Quotes

"The choice of verse to tell this absorbing story is a strong one; readers are drawn along by the intense and vivid imagery, and the depictions of clinical depression, guilt, and grief are visceral. McBride explores the impact of the intersection between Blackness and mental illness ... and the difficulties of two unusual young people finding refuge through friendship from the pressures the world exerts on them. Whimsy’s practice of Hoodoo and the empowerment she receives from the magic inside and around her help her contend with her depression and unravel her grief without negating a brutal, yet ultimately hopeful, reality. ..Important messages uniquely delivered." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Awards

School Library Journal Best Books of the Year