Review: Glitter Gets Everywhere by Yvette Clark

Hey, everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. I’m here with my first review of 2023. I’m hoping to do more reviews this year, so let’s see how that goes. Today, I’m reviewing Glitter Gets Everywhere.

Title: Glitter Gets Everywhere
Author: Yvette Clark
Genre: MG Contemporary/Realistic Fiction
Series: None
Page Count: 320 (hardcover)

Kitty’s mother died on an inappropriately sunny Tuesday. So much has changed in Kitty’s life over the last few months, and she needs the world to stop spinning around her. She needs things to return to normal — or as normal as they’ll ever be.

Normal definitely does not include her family moving from their home in a cozy corner of London all the way to New York City. Moving means leaving behind her friends and neighbors, her grandmother, and all the places and people that help Kitty keep her mother’s memory alive.

New York City is bright and bustling and completely different from everything Kitty has known. As she adjusts to her new school, explores her new city, and befriends a blue-haired boy, Kitty wonders if her memories of her mother don’t need to stay in one place — if there’s a way for them to be with Kitty every day, everywhere.

Content Warnings

death of a parent – discussion of hospice

There are no spoilers in this review.

Glitter Gets Everywhere was my last read of 2022, and I’m happy to say that it ended on a good note. It follows Kitty, a ten year old girl living in London. Her Mom died a few months ago from lung cancer and so far, nothing has gone back to normal yet. When her dad tells her that they’ll be moving to New York for a few months, she doesn’t want to leave. And she doesn’t expect to like New York. Or realize that her memories of her mother can move with her.

A main theme in this story is grief. I love how grief was explored and how we see it affecting not just Kitty, but her other family members and friends as well. It shows how grief affects everyone differently and how, even if you went through the same thing, you won’t experience the effects of it the same way. Kitty and her older sister Imogen go through the same thing, but the way it affects them is different.

“Someone at the hospice told me that grief is like glitter,” Gran says. “If you throw a handful of glitter in the air, even if you try your very best to clean it up, you’ll never get it all. I think that’s true. I keep finding glitter tucked into unexpected corners. I suppose it will always be there.”

I love the analogy that Kitty learns from her Gran. It’s a great way to describe grief. Grief never goes away; it will always be there and you’ll find it at the most unexpected times and places.

I enjoyed seeing Kitty’s life in London before they move to New York. She had a large support system around her, including her godmother and her neighbor who becomes a lot more than just that over the course of the book. Seeing her life in London helps compare it to the new and different experience she has in New York.

I appreciated how therapy was displayed in the story. It was normalized and seen in a positive light. Both Kitty and Imogen go to therapy and it was nice to read the scenes with Kitty and Sam.

Glitter Gets Everywhere is a great novel, dealing with heavier topics while still keeping the cozy feeling that makes me love the middle grade genre.

My Rating: 4.5/5 dragons