Adventure; Young Adult Literature; Coming-of-Age; Fantasy
Adventure
Mibs and her friends stow away on a delivery bus, crossing Nebraska and Kansas and lying to the driver, Lester, about what their plans are. On the run from the police and their parents, they attempt to get to Salina Hospital to wake up Poppa Beaumont, and along the way they sell bibles, reveal their savvies, and even flee a restaurant with a stolen banana cream pie.
An adventure like this is really meant to represent the journey that each person takes within themselves: Mibs deals with her new savvy, Fish learns how to scumble his own, Bobbi becomes a nicer person, Will Junior becomes an even better friend, Lester finds his own voice, and Lill finds a new love. And pretty much all in one adventure-filled day.
Young Adult Literature
Savvy is young adult literature because it describes what it's like to feel awkward when you start becoming a teenager. Savvies are a metaphor for the changes and responsibilities that come along with getting older, and Mibs has one heck of a time dealing with hers.
The book deals with many things that young adults or teens are dealing with and struggling with: acceptance, awkwardness, and change… to name just a few. The effect is that while reading this book, you commiserate with the kids as they go through similar problems to your own, and share in the awkwardness of growing up—even if your own thirteenth birthday wasn't particularly magical.
Coming-of-Age
Mibs is our main character in this book, and she starts out afraid, unable to deal with her father's accident, and foolishly jumping on a bus to try and save him. Along the way, she learns to accept her savvy, to better navigate friendship, to love in a mature way (by talking about it), and to take responsibility for her decisions. So though she isn't an adult when the story ends, Mibs has done a whole lot of growing up and definitely left childhood behind her.
Fantasy
Pro tip: Any time a book features people who can control electricity, the weather, radio signals, and earthquakes you've officially left the real world and are now hanging out in the realm of fantasy. So though much of the setting might seem boring or familiar, this book is still firmly planted in the fantasy genre.