The Girl in the Well Is Me

Honestly, it was the title that really got me interested in this book. I thought this was kind of like a dystopia or steampunk or mystery with those titles that begin with The Girl (The Girl in Iron Corset or The Girl On the Train or The Girl Who Kicked My Butt. okay, the last one doesn't exist) The Girl in the Well Is Me is mysterious indeed, but the topic dwells on a lot of matter including bullies, hallucinations and zombies? Kammie fell down a well after three bullies (Sandy, Mandy & Kan [...]

I try not to panic. The first thing everyone says to do in emergencies—earthquakes or house fires or if, say, you fall down an abandoned well out in the wasteland behind town—is to stay calm I had really high hopes for this book. But I couldn't get anything out of it except for boredom. Feeling very sorry that it couldn't work for me! (-_-)

There are few perfect things in this world.This book is one of them.I picked up this book a little after midnight, looking for an insomnia cure. I'd forgotten that the reason I'd gotten the book in the first place was because the blurb on the cover from the legendary K.A. Applegate, "I dare you to pick up this riveting novel without reading straight through to it's heart-stopping conclusion." I finished it at 3am.Rivers has created a story that is suspenseful, insightful, heartbreaking and- than [...]

Has some important middle grade themes like bullying. Overall, it was a dark read, especially given the grade level. But I really liked the protagonist's voice and appreciated her view of the world.

I wasn't moved throughout this entire book. In fact, the only thing I felt was boredom. I guess it sort of picked up towards the end, but at that point I was far too sick of the main character's rambling that I sped-read through it.

Kammie and her family moved to a new town and Kammie is doing her best to be part of the group of popular girls at school. It seems to be going well until the initiation process. Kammie discovers they didn't really plan to make her part of their group and set her up. She is now stuck in a well and she isn't even sure the girls are looking for help to get her out of it again. While she's being on her own for hours Kammie thinks about the recent changes in her life and the awful time before the mo [...]

Originally Posted: twentythreepages.wordpress*This book was given to me to read and review by the publishers but all opinions are mine*This was honestly such a unique and refreshing book. I mean how often do you get to hear the life story of a girl who is literally stuck in an actual well in the middle of Nowheresville? Not often that's for sure.PlotSo okay let's start with the plot. I loved the plot. I loved how fast paced it was and I thought it was very cute. The book was a little crazy thoug [...]

Wow, I'm not sure what to say here. I'm still a bit caught up in the story. It was very captivating.But yeah, I'm gonna give my head a good shake and organize my thoughts. Or at least try to. Here goes nothing.This was a really short read. Took me about 4-5 hours and I'm not even a fast reader. It was a very easy-to-read book with a likable protagonist. The pace was also good despite the fact that you might feel that it's dragging at time. All that "dragging" is part of getting to know Kammie an [...]

One of the best books I have read this year! From start to finish! Powerful.

The Girl In The Well Is Me is unlike anything I've ever read before. It's a poignant, moving story-almost poetic in a way-while also being funny and downright weird at times. It's a story told by an 11-year old girl who happens to get stuck in a well at the wasteland behind town (or nowheresille as Kammie calls it). I know what you're thinking: how can a book about a girl stuck in a well be any good? How would it not become repetitive and boring? But, let me assure you, it's so much more than th [...]

This is an incredibly well done story about a girl who falls into an old well during a mean club initiation orchestrated by girls at her new school. Once Kammie is in the well, she has a lot of time to think about her life, and Rivers balances what is happening in the now with flashbacks Kammie has to what brought her to the place she now finds herself. The plot is definitely not linear and jumps around a lot. This could be confusing but it should be because it is a perfect reflection of Kammie' [...]

This book is about a 11-year-old name Kammie. She was waiting to be rescued from a well she fell into while trying to impress some mean girls. She begins to feel hungry and light-headed. I like this book because the author does a great job transcribing the inner dialogue of a preteen.

A book that will be loved by many readers for many different reasons.

Lots in this book - lots about the ugliness of middle school relationships, the vulnerability of children, our inner voices and introspection . . . .

This is a fabulous, gripping read. Karen Rivers is a powerful, talented writer. I spent this weekend down in a well with my arms pressed to my sides, unable to move in any direction except, occasionally, down. The writing was so exceptional, I truly felt what the main character felt. Her thoughts were artfully written. Loved how we were fed the backstory bit by bit. I hung on each word. The content is a bit darker than the cartoon cover implies. This book reminded me of Ouida Sebestyen's harrowi [...]

I received an advanced electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Almost thirty years ago the world was enthralled by “Baby Jessica,” who was then only 18 months old and who fell into a well in her aunt’s backyard. She remained for two days until she was saved, and the media circus was over-ish. If Jessica was 9-and-a-half years older and at a new school, THE GIRL IN THE WELL IS ME could well (pun intended) be her story. This novel for young readers by Karen Rive [...]

The Girl in the Well is Me by Karen Rivers is a middle grade novel. Longing to be one of the popular girls in her new town, Kammie Summers has fallen into a well during a (fake) initiation into their club. Now Kammie’s trapped in the dark, counting the hours, waiting to be rescued. As hours pass, Kammie’s real-life predicament mixes with memories of the best and worst moments of her life so far, including the awful reasons her family moved to this new town in the first place. And as she begi [...]

Eleven-year-old Kammie Summers has fallen down a well in Nowheresville (her term) for her new home-state Texas. She remains stuck there while the three mean girls she was trying to impress humiliate her from above. As the reader, we only see what Kammie sees, hear what she hears, and bear witness to the thoughts that swirl through her preteen head, such as: “I wonder if heaven is real? I hope so. If it’s not, this whole life thing is going to have felt like a major ripoff.” All Kammie long [...]

Originally reviewed at Minnesota Reads.Taking place almost entirely inside the well where Kammie Summers is stuck, The Girl in the Well Is Me by Karen Rivers is a great middle grade novel about bullying, family, friends, and being true to oneself.11-year-old Kammie and her family moved to be closer to her dad, who is in prison. We don’t see this, but we learn about it after Kammie gets stuck in a well as part of an initiation gone wrong. Kammie falls deep into an abandoned well and is complete [...]

*This book was given to me to read and review by the publishers but all opinions are mine*When I first started reading this book, I was put off. The narrator's voice seemed at once too immature and too precocious for her age and felt false. But then I stopped and said, "wait" and thought about what *I* was like at the protagonist's aged I would have sounded just like her. The thing was, Karen Rivers did such an incredible job of shoving aside the trope of how kids are "supposed" to sound in lite [...]

I hate to use the words "quiet resilience" or something equally as cliché and overused by professional book reviewers like "poignant and inspiring", but this book has/is all of those things.At first, I was surprised that they would make a middle-grade book as dark as this, and then I realized it wasn't really about that. Sure, Kammie is stuck in a well, but what this book is really about is cruelty. That cruelty transforms Kammie and makes her into someone who is still marked by her experiences [...]

Karen Rivers has written a truly unique and quirky novel with lots of dark twists and turns. Imagine you suddenly fall into a well one day. How would you feel? Terrified? Shocked? Desperate? That is exactly how 11 year old Kammie Summers feels when she falls down a well. Kammie is the new girl in Nowheresville, Texas and she longs to be one of the popular girls at her new middle school. During an initiation ceremony into the popular girls club, Kammie falls into a well. Kammie waits in the dark, [...]

I think the description of this book does it a disservice. I'm not exactly sure why they claim it is "hilarious" (while there are some parts that may elicit a smile, I wouldn't say it is even "funny," never mind "hilarious" but it shouldn't be, either). Also, I'm not sure I get why they are comparing this book to Rain Reign or Flora & Ulysses. The books don't seem all that similar to me.I have seen a lot of reviews for this book that complain about the protagonist's voice and how annoying t [...]

Being the new kid in town, eleven-year-old Kammie Summer is perhaps just trying to impress the popular girls at her new school when she accepts their dare and ends up in a deep abandoned well. It’s wet, smelly, cold, dark and scary and it hurts being cramped in there with her arms and body wedged against the sides of the well. Where are her so called new "friends"? They don’t even appear to be eager to try to rescue her, if they are even still there. Will she live or die and why did she do i [...]

I loved this book! It reminds me of June b Jones (just how the girl talks). This book got me from the beginning and kept me wondering the whole way threw. I do have to say it is an older kids book and not a kids book, i may be wrong but I found some of the content a bit older. I do understand why other reviews gave it lower stars, as they didn't like the constant ramblings of the character, but you guys, she's stuck in a well. What else is the story going to be about besides a girl reflecting on [...]

Ok, what do I even say about this? The writing is strong, and the thoughtful conclusions that Kammie comes to during her ordeal are pretty excellent. However. And this is a BIG however -- if this is humor, it's very, very dark, and you have to get through the truly horrific bullying to get through to the story. Between the mean girl flashbacks and the incredibly terrifying claustrophobia, I'm not really sure this is a book I can recommend -- some kids like a read with a lot of emotions and diffi [...]

This is a really good mid-grade book. Kammie is stuck in a well after being vaguely tricked into standing on its unstable covering by the 3 "-Andy's" - Kandy, Mandy, and Sandy. Starting after the fact, you learn how this happened - how Kammie ended up in this new town, why she's with these three "mean girls", and how her family life crumbled. The author does justice to being a young girl wanting to reinvent herself, and also one just trying to fit in and get through. I read this in a few hours, [...]

The Girl in the Well is Me  The whole thing feels like a prank at first, like something they planned -- a joke with a punch line.- first line  Lying turns your soul into something small and dry and hard, like an old raisin you find in your book bag squashed under a book you on-purpose-forgot to return to your old school library because you loved it too much to leave it behind.- page 5 But, obviously, popular and mean are tied together so tight they're like those knots that just tighten and [...]

I think the theme of this book is always stay positive. Kammie isn't sure if she is going to make it out of the well. She thinks people are coming for her but it's been really quiet. Yet she waits for people to come to her rescue. She is also looking down on her life with the incident that happened in her home town. She had to move and tried to make things work with living in a trailer. But she keeps feeling like her world is ending. There is still hope inside of her though when she is stuck in [...]

Eh, interesting but problematic premise. The eleven-year-old heroine is tricked by mean (popular) girls, and as a direct result is trapped in a well, arms pinned to her sides. She passes the time by reliving re-examining her family's recent financial disgrace and ensuing miseries. None of this self-searching amounts to much, and the moral lessons are pretty heavy-handed: the heroine realizes she was SO wrong to admire the popular girls. She resolves to make friends with (literally) the disabled. [...]