365 Days to Alaska is exactly the type of book I would want my students reading in grades 6-7!
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I'm a sucker for a book that highlights the relationship between a child and an animal, especially when this animal is an unusual pet. I must admit that I haven't found one I love since Pax, but here we are!
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Rigel is taken away from the only life she's ever known, bush life in Alaska, when her parents split up and her mom takes the kids to Connecticut. Rigel hates it, and she's counting down the days (365) until she can go back to live with her dad.
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The themes of family, friendship, and loss are so wonderfully developed. There are lessons in this book about forgiving a betrayal, accepting people who are different, and learning to say goodbye, all lessons that I deem to be invaluable for middle school kids. Rigel's character is very relatable, and the friendship she develops with a crow is truly special and heartwarming.
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I would highly recommend this book for middle school kids, although I'm sure that you will also enjoy reading it with them.

A wonderful resilient character holds the readers interest. An fascinating 'reverse' look at someone with survival skills from the backwoods of Alaska having to translate those skills into suburban Connecticutt. A deep look into the bonds of family, and the flaws of family.

I received a free digital copy in exchange for a honest review.

This novel is a thoughtful middle grade book debut by a new author about a eleven year old girl who has to adapt to living a suburban life after living off the grid in Alaska.

Rigel is living in Alaska with her parents and siblings when her parents announce that they are getting a divorce. The family is split up and the children move with their mother to their grandmother's in Connecticut. It takes a while for the children to adapt to a different life.

365 Days to Alaska is the first book I have read since Covid-19 began that has made me cry. It is a beautiful story of a young girl coming to terms with her parents’ divorce and huge change in living situation. Rigel was born in the Alaskan Bush and is completely happy in her wilderness. Rigel loves her family, including her parents and two sisters, and their off-the-grid lifestyle. Her world is forever changed when her parents get divorced and her Mom moves Rigel and her sisters to Connecticut.
Rigel does not want to leave her beautiful Alaska, but is not allowed to stay with her dad. They make a pact that Rigel needs to stay in Connecticut for one year. After that, her Dad will bring her back to Alaska to live with him. For the next six months, Rigel works hard to keep her agreement with her Dad. However, life in Connecticut is nothing like her Alaska. Rigel needs to dig deep to come to terms with her new world.
As a school librarian, this is a book I will add to our collection. Parts of the book are comfortably predictable and are easy for students to understand. The conclusion offers a certain amount of resolution, something so important in children’s literature. Yet at the same time, there is enough ambiguity for students to draw their own conclusions. There are several parts of the story that tug strongly at your emotions and draw you further into the story.
As a mother of a 4th grader, I loved the straight forward nature of the story. There are no hidden political messages or potential minefields I need to address before my son reads this book. There is enough action to engage active children. There are enough emotional situations to draw in young readers who crave those connections.
I would recommend this book to any child who enjoys realistic fiction or any child struggling to come to terms with a huge upheaval in their lives.

I received this e-ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rigel has spent her whole life in the Alaskan bush, but her parents have divorced, and her mom is moving her and her sisters all the way to Connecticut. Willow and Izzy are excited, but Rigel loves everything about the Alaskan wilderness and has plans to return to Alaska and her dad in a year. Connecticut is so foreign to her its challenging, and what's keeping her going is her daily countdown to return.

Rigel is a great protagonist. Academics aren't a struggle for her, but the transition from distance learning to public school is a tough one. I hope this book finds its way to the middle grade readers in the Alaskan wilderness, but I think the ones in the lower 48 will love this just as much!

I was intrigued by the title of this book. The characters are very heartwarming and I enjoyed the story. It reminded me how terrible middle school is! For a YA book, it was very good. I thought parts were predictable, but I would be interested to see if my students feel the same way. The descriptions made me want to go back to Alaska. I especially liked the settings.

365 Days to Alaska by Cathy Carr is a very well written, well researched book about family spliting up and having to start over in a totally different surroundings. As an adult I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am sure it will be a favorite for younger readers also.

When I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down! I was immediately caught up in the stream of the life of Rigel and her family. The book begins in Alaska and being someone who has always wanted to visit there, I was entranced by the descriptions and the place it held in Rigel's heart. I was swept along as Rigel was uprooted and traveled to Connecticut (for 365 days - until, as her father promised she could return to Alaska and they could be reunited) and the adjustment began. Having lived overseas as a child I found the adjustment to life in Connecticut to be reminiscent of the culture shock I experienced whenever I returned to the United States.
If I had to describe this book in three words, I would say caring, captivating, and funny. I cared about Rigel from the moment I met her and could identify with the multitude of feelings she was experiencing in her quest for understanding and belonging. The author of this book told a compelling story, so much so that I found myself so caught up in it that I kept reading because I wanted to see what would happen next. The author's writing style was smooth and easy to read. What endeared me even more to the book was the author's sense of humor. It takes a lot to make me laugh and at several points, I found 365 Days to Alaska to be laugh out loud funny. It wasn't necessarily something being said to make me laugh, but rather how the author put things. I am planning to reread this book at some point so I can savor the story.
I am so impressed with this author and her debut book. I hope that she is writing as I type this review because I would love to read more books by Cathy Carr!

Thanks to NetGalley for this eARC of 365 Days to Alaska by Cathy Carr. Rigel was raised in the wilds of Alaska and loves it there. After her parents divorce, she is forced to relocate to Connecticut, which she is certain she will hate. She makes a pact with her father to stick it out for a year, after which she can move back to Alaska to live with him. A fun read I think kids will really enjoy!

Moving to Connecticut from Alaska was possibly the worst thing that could have happened to Rigel. In “365 Days to Alaska” readers step into the shoes of someone who is not only experiencing cultural shock but nature shock, with its “concrete, and noise, and people everywhere - this place was the mistake”. Any child who had moved from living in nature to a suburb will be able to relate. A wonderful coming of age book.

This was a gorgeous story and I loved it. Rigel and her family move away from their off-the-grid home in the bush of Alaska when her parents get a divorce, and settle with her grandmother in Connecticut, which couldn't get further from what Rigel is used to. She learns to navigate new friends, a new school, teachers, the loss of the presence of her father, and there are definitely some growing pains. I love how the author took Rigel through the process of figuring out who her real friends were, and how to navigate the politics of middle school "cool kids."

Rigel loves nature and the outdoors. Her home with her family in the Alaska wilderness is all she has ever known. But she would be leaving her beloved life as a bush rat and moving to Connecticut where she would need to learn new survival skills to handle middle school and life on the outside.

This story of relationships of family and friends and nature is heart warming. Rigel is a middle school girl, like any other, with a rich background, unique family, and a desire to find love and acceptance. Authentic and touching, 365 Days to Alaska is a great read for those who enjoy realistic fiction and stories about people.

I really enjoyed this book. Our main character is 11 year old Rigel. She loves her home in Alaska on a bush homestead; she is a strong, independent girl. Her world is turned upside when her mother and father separate and she and her sisters move with their mother to Connecticut. She makes a secret pact with her father that if she can make it for a year (365 days) she can go back to Alaska. Which to Rigel feels like forever and she isn't sure she can find her new life or place here in Connecticut.

As the story unfolds Rigel befriends a crow and makes some other friends. There was underlying tension within the family and I felt that the Grandmother and her mother didn't really pay enough attention to Rigel to help her acclimate. I felt her friends were more there for her than her family. Rigel soon realizes that people may not always be what they appear, that promises can be broken, and that she is strong enough to survive and flourish!
I felt that Rigel was a strong and capable lead character and I really enjoyed this story!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Great story about change, adjusting, and friendship. Rigel lives off the grid on a bush homestead in Alaska with her family. She has plenty of wildlife, forests, and independence. When her parents divorce, she, her mother, and her two siblings move to Connecticut to live with their grandmother. There Rigel has electricity, running water, and lots of cement and pavement. Before she left, she made a deal with her dad that he would let her return to Alaska in a year. At the beginning, while starting a new school and getting used to life in a suburb, that is all that keeps her going. As the year goes on, she realizes that maybe promises made might not come true and maybe making friends could be a good thing.
Rigel is a strong character and her feeling, fears, and anger ring true.

DRC from Netgalley and Amulet Books

Right from word one you are sucked in to Rigel's world. "Rigel put the tip of the hunting knife into the hare's belly and made a careful slit."
Rigel lives with her family, far from others in the wilderness of Alaska. She loves her simple way of life, but that comes to a halt when her parents decide to divorce and off to Connecticut she goes.
Rigel is about to enter 6th grade and has never been to a traditional school, or had real friends, or had to worry about what the popular kids think. She loves nature, solitude, math, and her dad, Bear, who is still in Alaska. They have made a promise to each other that in one year's time, Rigel can return to Alaska.
So the countdown begins 365 days to Alaska. Will Rigel find her way in Connecticut? Will she find true friends? Will she find out what home really is? An adventure awaits with Rigel and 365 Days to Alaska. An adventure you will want to take too.

3.5

I am surprised.
Because this is a children's book and I only read it because of Alaska, and I don't read children's books so I'm not really familiar with what's appropriate and what's not, and how deep they go and stuff.
So I was pleasantly surprised.

Because I totally enjoyed it and I was invested into the characters and their feelings and life.

The book is from the prospective of 11 year old Rigel, and I had to constantly remind myself that, because as an adult I obviously wanted more explanation, more revealed, I wanted others prospectives as well.

Rigel finds herself being moved away from the home she lived in all her life, the home that she loves deeply to a new life completely.

She lived in a cottage in Alaska wilderness where there is no electricity, no cellphones, no TV, and homeschooling (which is what's everybody is doing right now anyway), she is learning to hunt for meat, and suddenly she is moving to Connecticut.

Rigel is counting the days and trying to get by with minimal involvement until the day comes for her to go home, but as the days goes by she is slowly finding a new place and a new home. She is growing and seeing more and understanding better.

I enjoyed this journey of growing with Rigel.
But again as an adult there was so much more missing in the book.
Hence the 3.5 stars
Also I wasn't sure the book was appropriate for kids, maybe older kids.

A BIG Thank You to Netgalley and Amulet Books for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of “365 Days to Alaska” for my review.

I loved reading this story. It is always difficult making changes to your life and adjusting to a new environment. I thought the author beautifully captured Rigel’s difficulty in the book. Also, I liked Rigel as the main character and could relate to her emotions. I also loved the bond she forms with the crow. It was wonderful to see their bond together. Moreover, I think it was wonderful the way Rigel accidentally meets her true friends even when she is not looking to make any. The author has paced the story beautifully and makes you feel heartfelt emotions as you read the story.

The supporting characters were okay. Although the author made the characters realistic, I really didn’t like Willow or Lila or even Bear very much. They seemed to be lost in their own world were putting their own priority over their family. I know a lot of families do this, but I just felt that at least her mother or grandmother would have focused more on her. In fact, I liked her friends more than her family. Moreover, I also loved her relationship with Julie. It is indeed very sad when someone you feel is a close friend stops talking to you. I wanted to see how this progressed between Rigel and Julie and thought it was written very well. On a side note, there are a few characters like Davis who I felt was unnecessary to the plot. But apart from that, I enjoyed this book a lot!

Overall, I think the author has a done a wonderful job for a debut novel and cannot wait to read her future books. The illustrations also compliment well to each chapter.