Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence
by Sonja Thomas
Hi! Do you have any pets? I do! I have two dogs named Deacon and Reynolds. Mira Williams also has a pet. She has a cat named Sir Fig Newton. Mira loves Sir Fig Newton with all of her heart. However, when Sir Fig Newton is diagnosed with an incurable disease, it turns her life upside down!
Life has not been going great for Mira Williams. Her best friend, Thomas, moved away and her enemy is now living in Thomas’ house. Her dad lost his job and is on the lookout for a new one, so money is tight. Her mom has a job involving numbers when she’d really just rather be on stage. Then, one day, Mira notices that her cat does not look well. She does some research and discovers that he has something called “The Silent Cat Killer” (otherwise known as diabetes). She goes to her parents about it and they decide to take him for a checkup. However, the treatment is too much money for them to pay. They are going to give Sir Fig Newton away!! Mira could not bear this, so she convinced her parents to give her a month to raise $1,000 for the treatment. Mira starts off slowly with a lemonade stand and babysitting, but she soon realizes that she’s not getting money quickly enough. However, she is forced to take a break from her fundraising for a STEM camp. During the project, she becomes closer with her enemy Tamika. At first, she’s convinced that Tamika is trying to sabatoge her in everything she does. But she eventually realizes that Tamika is actually only trying to be nice. After STEM camp, the problem with Fig Newton seems more impossible than ever. She realizes that sometimes you need a little help to fix these things, so she goes to see Tamika for a solution. While at Tamika’s house, she sees that Tamika’s mom is working on a fundraiser to raise $2,000. That gives her an idea. Mira decides to create a fundraiser for Sir Fig Newton. However, her plans are shot down again when the website that Tamika’s mom is using is only for users that are 13 years old and up. Next, she decides to make flyers and pass them around. She earns lots of money from her neighbors as a result of the flyers, however it’s still not even halfway to her goal. With only a week left to raise enough money, Mira doesn’t know what to do.
My favorite part of the book was watching Mira discover the playlist to help make her dad happy again. The study that emotions can be affected by different songs playing was really fun to learn about.
This book isn’t exactly like any book that I’ve read before. It’s realistic fiction that explores a lot of human emotion and the ups and downs of life.
Will Mira raise enough money to cure Sir Fig Newton? Or will they have to give him away to a different family, officially causing Mira’s life to change forever? As I always say, read the book to find out!
A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:
“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor – zero being not scary at all and five being majorly scary): 1
“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor – zero having no yucky-lovey parts in it and five having major yucky-lovey parts): 0
I give this book 4 ½ wands.
This book was great! It really showed what life can sometimes be like and lets you sympathize with the characters. Some parts of the book really spoke to me, and some parts that didn’t speak to me may speak to other readers. It’s a book that connects you with other people’s experiences.
Source: Review Copy
