A Room For Ryel

Review: A Room for Ryel When Ryel and his dad move in with Lonnie and her twin boys, Harry and Darcy, Ryel thinks the move is great for his dad. Ryel really doesn’t mind moving in either, he’s known Harry and Darcy since kindergarten and they are all friends at school. But there’s just one major problem: there are only two bedrooms to split between the three boys. To begin with, the boys share one room and store their belongings in the spare room. Ryel soon discovers Darcy talks and shouts in his sleep, and Harry sleep-whistles. This keeps Ryel awake most of the night. With the Year Six Sockey Tournament coming up, Ryel has an idea. Whoever makes it furthest in the rounds of the tournament gets their own room. The twins agree. Now Ryel has a chance to win his own room! Written in first-person narrative voice by the protagonist, Ryel, Emma Cameron expertly addresses many of the challenges blended families face, often with unforeseen and comical outcomes when adjusting to new situations. Ultimately compromise and accepting change is found to be the key to adapting to their new environments.

A solid middle grade combined family story. I liked that there were no villains or "bad kids" in this story. All the boys were trying to learn how to live together all with strengths and weaknesses. This lost some points because the cover doesn't give a strong appeal to the story. Overall this is a book I would recommend for boys and girls in years 3-6. Strengths are the family dynamics and positive portrayal of blended families and that both parents demonstrated positive and supportive parenting.