All the Answers

All the Answers is an enjoyable novel with well formed characters and a unique premise that will find many fans in the 9-12 year old set. What kid out there would not want a magic pencil that knows all the answers to every test? Ava learns in this story that having all the answers is not always a good thing, nor is it the most important thing. I loved the author's idea here, and for the most part she executes it well, providing tons of food for thought and material for class discussion. It's when she started to bring in all the other issues that I felt the story lost some of it's focus.

Ava has serious problems with anxiety. It's almost painful to read this girl's worries. She is often paralyzed by them, both physically and emotionally. I felt very sorry for her and felt that the best parts of the novel were when she was able to overcome her anxieties. Unfortunately, she has lots to be anxious about. The author introduces grief, family illness, economic hardship, and peer pressure into a very full story. Plus a magic pencil that turns out to have a rather creepy origin. I wish this would have focused more on Ava's personal achievements and left some of these other issues out.

Still, the family portrayal is top notch. I love books that offer up loving, supportive parents that have a real role in their children's lives. It will be hard to recommend this strange little story, which is surprising as I am a true fan of this author. All the Answers failed to capture this adult reader.

My daughter is 8 years old, and has mild Autism. She has a lot of "What if" questions. She really enjoyed reading this. It was fun to read and and while she read it, she didn't worry as much. It is a wonderful book to read. It is well written and I believe kids will enjoy. It.

Funny, poignant, honest, deep...a combination as magical as a pencil that answers all your questions.

I Loved it too. 12-year-old Ava Anderson lives with her family in upstate NY. Life isn't easy for a kid with anxiety, so when she writes a question with a pencil from her junk drawer at home and the answer pops into her head it swiftly takes the anxiety out of school tests. Wouldn't it be great if it could give reassuring answers to some big emotional issues too? Sadly it doesn't and Ava has more than her share of drama at home and at school. This story led to a terrific dinner table conversation about the subject of anxiety and empathy and understanding and friendship.

Keeper!

So many of the children's books are plain cookie cutter books with the same formulaic stories, so I was impressed with this one's creativity and ingenuity. It tells the story of a girl who finds a pencil that provides insights into others. At first it is great and she learns some useful things, but she soon finds out that it does not have all the answers. Then it is part of the lesson that she needs to use her own abilities to figure out her own best path. I liked that it was creative and fun and yet still had a nice lesson. It is well written. My daughter and I enjoyed it very much. It's nice to find a book that has that little something extra and is not as dark as so many of today's kids books are.

This is a charming story as long as you don’t think too much about the central plot element. As I was reading I was captivated by both the characters and the unique plot angle. After I finished the book, however, some niggling questions and doubts started popping up, which I’ve tried to silence because I really don’t want the book spoiled.

Eleven-year-old Ava Anderson is a bit of a worry-wart. Okay, she’s a heckuva worry-wart. She’s constantly second-guessing every aspect of everything that could possibly go wrong. “What if” is almost like her mantra. What if she doesn’t get a good grade on the math test? What if her dad’s store is run out of business by the new big box store opening up? What if her friend Sophie’s volleyball friends don’t like her? What if she makes a fool of herself? For each of these what ifs Ava has a whole string of the disasters that would follow and how her life would be ruined. So Ava deals with her anxiety by always staying on the safe side. Nothing ventured, nothing lost, right?

But what if a girl like that had a pencil that could give her all the answers? Well, all the answers that don’t involve predicting the future or dealing with issues of free will, anyway. What if she knew she could pass her math test? What if she could know whether Sophie’s volleyball friends like her? What if she knew more than she wanted to know?

The progression of how Sophie uses the pencil is interesting. She discovers its powers accidentally during a math test, so of course her initial uses involve getting the right answers for her schoolwork. Once she shares it with her Sophie, however, the possibilities of the pencil take on new potential. Who likes who? What are the celebrities up to? When are those fabulous boots going on sale? Under Sophie’s influence, the pencil becomes a bit of an in for her socially and ever so gradually she starts to come out of her shell.

A bit later the pencil gets turned to more altruistic uses when Ava and Sophie find themselves at family night at her grandfather’s nursing home and they use it to find out what each of the residents want. This is one of the most touching parts of the book as it really humanizes both girls and shows a glimmer of the big heart inside Ava’s tiny mouse-like exterior.

But it’s also the catalyst that starts Ava asking some deeper questions – ones that maybe she didn’t really want to know the answers to - her parents’ relationship, her mother’s relationship with her grandfather, her mother’s health. But at least knowing the answers means you can do something, right? Well, sort of.

Sometimes you just have to wait things out and maybe that’s the hardest thing of all. Maybe even harder than that adventure course field trip Ava’s been avoiding.

Ava – and even Sophie to a lesser extent – grows considerably in this book, socially, emotionally, morally and courageously. And ultimately it’s not the pencil that does it – that’s just a catalyst for her to realize what she’s had in her all along. It’s a very powerful message, yet one that is nicely woven into the story rather than used as a cudgel to beat us with. I finished this book with a luxurious, bittersweet sigh of satisfaction. I’m sure the target audience will enjoy it every bit as much as this middle-aged mother of two.

But (and there has to be a “but”, doesn’t there?), I have some minor quibbles. First, I don’t want to give too much away, but once we find out the source of the pencil’s answers, it doesn’t quite square with the kinds of questions the pencil is able to answer (*for an example that includes a bit of a spoiler, read the starred section at the bottom of this review*).

But my bigger concern is with the whole concept of “right” answers in general. Our society is obsessed with right answers these days, especially the never ending drive to teach our students find the one “right” answer. Of course, many questions do have just one right answer, like the math questions Ava asks early on. But many more questions – and by far the most interesting ones – don’t have right answers. Indeed, the most interesting questions of all don’t have any answer, at least not that we humans will ever know in our time on earth. In fact, many of the questions the pencil answers seem like there could be countless answers. If you could ask that pencil what I want, for instance, you’d better be prepared to listen for a while because I want a lot (and much of it is contradictory). Maybe Ms. Messner will write a follow-up book called “All the Questions”.

But anyway, niggles aside, this is a charming book and highly recommended for the target audience and even for adults. The characters, including the pencil, are all well-drawn (if you’ll forgive the pun) and the book deals with many issues the target audience may also be facing in a light-hearted yet thoughtful way.

*(spoiler) How would a reference librarian know, for instance, whether or not Jason Marzigliano likes Sophie? That just doesn’t seem like the type of “factual” question that the pencil should be able to answer.*

(written by a 4th grader) I love this book. It is an interesting story about a girl who finds a pencil and is placed on a journey to discover that you don't always want all the answers. One great thing about this story is that every solution to a problem leads to another problem, so it keeps me wanting more each chapter. Also in some parts of the story two problems occur at once. Both of these parts I like but other readers may not. This book is very interesting because in the story many life problems occur that you may see in life, including cancer. This story begins with a pencil that was found in a junk drawer by a girl studying for a math quiz. She ends up using it and discovers the pencil answers all her questions. No one else can hear the answers except for the person who wrote the question, and it only answers questions that are fact based. "All the Answers" is a great item to buy and will be enjoyed greatly by 8-12 year olds.

(written by a 4th grader) I love this book. It is an interesting story about a girl who finds a pencil and is placed on a journey to discover that you don't always want all the answers. One great thing about this story is that every solution to a problem leads to another problem, so it keeps me wanting more each chapter. Also in some parts of the story two problems occur at once. Both of these parts I like but other readers may not. This book is very interesting because in the story many life problems occur that you may see in life, including cancer. This story begins with a pencil that was found in a junk drawer by a girl studying for a math quiz. She ends up using it and discovers the pencil answers all her questions. No one else can hear the answers except for the person who wrote the question, and it only answers questions that are fact based. "All the Answers" is a great item to buy and will be enjoyed greatly by 8-12 year olds.

Sometimes we think we have all the answers, but imagine finding a magic pencil that really gave you the ability to have all the answers! That's what happens in All the Answers by Kate Messner. Ava is stressed over a math quiz, but when she finds a blue pencil in the junk drawer, things will never be the same.

Ava realizes that this pencil answers every question she writes. Of course, she shares it with her friend Sophie and they can't wait to get to the fun questions.

I'm not usually a fan of fantasy, but I love how this book intertwines magic with real life. It poses interesting questions such as what if you had all the answers and do you want all the answers? After all, sometimes having all the answers can be a bad thing. The characters are real and make this book an enjoyable read.

Ava, 12, is worrying - an ongoing thing for her - about a math quiz when she finds the blue pencil in the junk drawer. After discovering the pencil's odd yet exciting magic, she shares it with her friend, Sophie, and the two girls have fun figuring out what kinds of questions (and how to word the questions) to ask with the pencil and getting some answers (several boys have romantic crushes on Sophie) and some silence in response to other questions (the pencil has rules, and isn't a fortune-teller).

At first, the pencil helps Ava gain a bit of confidence - she finds out, for example, that girls she had previously been too anxious to have lunch with because she was worried they wouldn't like her, actually have some positive thoughts about her. Ava also uses the pencil to help her better understand her grandfather, who lives in a nursing home, and what he most wants, which Ava is going to try to give him.

But then Ava's world begins to crumble when Sophie gets angry with her for what appears to be a mistake the pencil makes ... Ava must face a mountain of fears without her best friend, and the pencil's answers only cause Ava's worries to grow. When faced with overwhelming worries about frightening threats to more than one of her loved ones, Ava must determine how she can best help others - and herself - when the pencil's answers don't offer her the courage she needs to grow up and conquer the next challenge or adventure (whether it be the jazz band tryouts or the so-called-adventure on the zip line).

The book has many other tiny jewels tucked into it - Ava's relationship with her parents (she and her mom frequently toss quotes back and forth from books they've read together; she puts her brain to work to help her dad come up with an idea to make the family general store stand out and draw people to it), siblings (younger sister Emma is one of four Emmas in her class; her solution brings smiles throughout the story), and teachers (especially the librarian). The book balances fun and silliness with deeper meanings, ideas, thoughts, and a lesson or two (which didn't feel forced); it was very enjoyable, made me feel things as well as think about things, and made me want to check out the author's other books.