Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2008 (Vol. 76, No. 7))
Mibs can't wait for her 13th birthday, when her special gift, or "savvy," will awaken. Everyone in her family—except beloved Papa, who married in—has one, from Grandpa Bomba's ability to move mountains (literally) to Great Aunt Jules's time-traveling sneezes. What will hers be? Not what she wants, it turns out, but definitely what she needs when the news that a highway accident has sent her father to the ICU impels her to head for the hospital aboard a Bible salesman's old bus. Sending her young cast on a zigzag odyssey through the "Kansaska-Nebransas" heartland, Law displays both a fertile imagination (Mibs's savvy is telepathy, but it comes with a truly oddball caveat) and a dab hand for likable, colorful characters. There are no serious villains here, only challenges to be met, friendships to be made and some growing up to do on the road to a two-hanky climax. A film is already in development, and if it lives up to this marvel-laden debut, it'll be well worth seeing. 2008, Dial/Walden Media, 352p, $16.99. Category: Fantasy. Ages 10 to 13. Starred Review. © 2008 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Karen Sebesta (Library Media Connection, October 2008)
Ingrid Law’s first novel is an absolutely delightful coming-of-age saga of the two-day adventure of just-turned-13 Mibs, two of her siblings, and a couple of preacher’s kids. The story begins with an introduction to the very unique Beaumont family, each of whom has inherited some unusual power from their mother’s line. The gift reveals itself on the child’s thirteenth birthday. Unfortunately for Mibs, her birthday begins with her father’s serious injury in an accident. The preacher’s wife throws Mibs a surprise birthday party, but Mibs is the brunt of cruel jokes by her peers who consider all of the Beaumont kids ‘weird.’ Frustrated, Mibs, along with her brothers and the preacher’s kids, board a traveling Bible salesman’s bus thinking they can get Mibs to Salina, Kansas, to visit her father in the hospital. Mysterious happenings, the emergence of Mibs’ ‘savvy,’ and her attraction to the preacher’s son, Will, keep the reader engaged throughout. Law’s prose sparkles with down-home dialogue and humor in a story with a less-than-fairytale ending. Recommended. 2008, Dial Books for Young Readers (Penguin Young Readers Group), 352pp., $16.99 hc.

Karen Coats (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September 2008 (Vol. 62, No. 1))
The folks in Mibs’ family are special: upon reaching thirteen, each comes into a supernatural gift they call a savvy. One of Mibs’ brothers, for instance, can cause violent storms, whipping large bodies of water into devastating hurricanes; another brother is a conduit for electricity. (After their thirteenth birthdays, the children are home-schooled so that they can learn to control their often unruly gifts.) When Mibs’ father is involved in a serious car accident a few days before her big birthday, her life goes seriously off-kilter, and she finds herself escaping the kindly meant but dangerously invasive interventions of her preacher’s family. Along with two of her brothers and the preacher’s kids, she sneaks onto the bus of a Bible salesman, determined to get to her father in the hospital and use her gift, whatever it turns out to be, to awaken him from his coma. The resulting road trip is a revelation for all of the participants and an exciting, warm-hearted ride for readers as well. The storytelling is superb, with Law attending as much to the sound of her prose as the sense and developing characters that are memorable, quirky, and sweet without ever crossing the line into cutesy. Attaching the gifts to the volatile emotions of puberty, sibling protectiveness, and developing insight adds just the right level of emotional realism for the coming-of-age subplot, and the author manages the emotional growth of each of her ensemble cast with sensitivity, humor, and a few startling revelations. Though readers will likely find and enjoy this on their own, it deserves a communal reading, and as such it will quickly become a classroom or family favorite Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2008, Dial/Walden Media, 342p., $16.99. Grades 4-7.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2008)
The Beaumont family is special. So special, in fact, that they each boast a supernatural talent called a savvy--from Rocket's way with electricity to Fish's power over wind and rain. What will Mibs's savvy be, and how will it help save her father? With a rhythmic, musical voice, Law takes readers on a fast-moving, fun-filled adventure, including lots of diverting detours. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2008, Dial, 343pp, 16.99. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.