Book Reviews By & For Kids - Rapunzel Reads

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman (2016)

3/2/2026

By Nico

Frances: high-achieving, uni-bound, her love of art a footnote which she’s too embarrassed to explore outside of the fandom for of favorite podcast, Radio Silence.

Aled: the introverted creator of Radio Silence, written in secret as a missive sent to an unknown recipient, the one place where he can be himself.

The unlikely new friendship between Frances and Aled will change how they envision their futures, rewrite the constants of the world they’ve grown up in, and perhaps even give them the courage to reexamine who they really are.

I made it my mission this summer to read every book by Alice Oseman. I'd previously only read the Heartstopper graphic novels and I Was Born for This, all of which I loved, so I dug into the Heartstopper novellas, Solitaire, Loveless...and Radio Silence.

If you haven't read this book, all I can really tell you is to do so as soon as possible. Oseman has crafted one of the most authentic, multifaceted, and compelling coming-of-age stories I've ever read, starring characters I would truly follow anywhere. This book made me laugh and cry and want to scream at or hug characters at turns. This is a book I want to come back to, and then come back to again, because it's so beautiful and incredible that I know it won't lose that power anytime soon.

There are not enough YA books that feature a transformative friendship between a boy and a girl that never considers becoming a romance. Radio Silence is one of the few, and the sheer beauty and healing I’ve found through it makes me wish there were far more of them. Frances is for every high-achieving high schooler who is basing her future more on what people expect than what she truly wants; Aled is for everyone who doesn’t have the space to be themselves. This book is about growing up, self-discovery, and the importance of having people who you can rely upon. And I loved every minute of it! I truly can’t recommend Radio Silence highly enough to readers ages fourteen and up who are looking for their place in the world, or believe that they’ve already found it.

Wren Martin Ruins it All by Amanda DeWitt (2023)

2/23/2026

By Nico

Wren Martin, proud asexual, couldn’t be less interested in romance. In fact, his first act as student body president (who cares that his election win was based only on a technicality) is to get rid of the Valentine’s Day dance.

But the irritatingly flawless Leo Reyes, his new VP, has other ideas. Ideas like having an anonymous dating app sponsor the dance—and when Wren makes an account to figure out what the point is, he finds himself matched with someone he can’t help relating to. And maybe even fall in love with…

Managing the upcoming dance, unraveling his burgeoning feelings for this anonymous partner, and dealing with Leo might be too much even for Wren Martin to handle. In fact, he might ruin it all.

Over the summer, I put out a call on Instagram for a good queer ace romance novel (featuring an alloace protagonist). One title came up again and again: Wren Martin Ruins it All. Now that I’ve read it, I know I’d recommend it with the same enthusiasm!

I really loved this book! DeWitt does an incredible job showcasing the laughs and challenges of being in a relationship while asexual, and Wren is the perfect protagonist. His voice carries the book along at a fast, hilarious pace, and while cheering on his anti-dance platform I also found myself connecting with him on an emotional level that's kept this story in my mind ever since. I highly recommend Wren Martin Ruins It All to fans of contemporary fiction and queer rom-coms ages thirteen and up.

ages 13+ / fiction / humorous / LGBTQ+ / realistic fiction / romance / standalone / young adult

I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman (2020)

2/2/2026

By Nico

Jessica just wants her daughter, Emily, to be happy. But somewhere in the past sixteen years, trying to juggle her career as a lawyer with being a single mom and sending Emily to a good high school that’ll prepare her for college, she feels like she no longer knows Emily at all. Now, the time she spends with her daughter seems to constantly turn into an argument—and the omnipresent I hate you almost makes Jessica wish she was at work, trying to improve her boss’s sexist policies, instead of in an even more futile battle with Emily.

Emily, in fact, does not hate her mom—she just doesn’t think she understands her. Sure, it’s all well and good that her mom got a law degree from Columbia and now breaks barriers in her all-consuming job, but that doesn’t mean she has any idea what it’s like for Emily, surrounded by college-related expectations when all Emily knows for certain is that she isn’t certain about anything.

When Jessica and Emily leave for a week-long tour of some of the East Coast’s most prestigious colleges, Jessica hopes it will be a chance to spend time with her daughter—and Emily is just glad to leave behind a school scandal that her mom knows nothing about. After the first day of the trip, both are pretty sure this will only make their relationship worse, not better. But as Jessica and Emily get to know each other better—and learn more about the other members of their tour—they realize that maybe understanding and love aren’t as far off as they’d believed.

I Was Told It Would Get Easier is a hilarious, witty coming-of-age story told in alternate points of view from mother and daughter that perfectly captures the struggles, diatribes, and absurdity of the end of high school and the college admissions process. I went into this book not expecting to be particularly sucked in by Jessica’s sections, but instead, her fabulous voice, and the complex but irrefutably accurate dynamic between her and Emily, made her my favorite point of view character.

The relationships in this book are definitely a highlight. The connection between Jessica and Emily lies fundamentally at the heart of I Was Told It Would Get Easier, but I can’t underestimate the relationships both have and form with old friends, classmates, and other tour members. They make every interaction and page come utterly to life, brimming with weirdness, believability, and snark. I highly recommend I Was Told It Would Get Easier to readers ages fourteen and up, particularly to anyone disillusioned by the college admissions process or struggling to decide what they want to do with their life and looking for a book as full of authenticity as it is humor.

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman (2018)

1/12/2026

By Nico

The Ark: a boy band taking music by storm. Propelled by hit singles and an extensive fandom, the Ark has captivated England—the, soon, the world.

Jimmy Kaga-Ricci: the Ark’s frontman. Playing in a band alongside his two best friends used to be a distant fantasy for Jimmy, so he’s pretty sure he’s living the dream. Who cares that he gets harassed for being trans? Who cares that his anxiety is bad enough that just talking to fans can send him into a spiral? He would never want to give this up…would he?

Angel Rahimi: a fan. Because, yeah, that’s basically been her entire identity since she discovered the Ark’s first music video on YouTube years ago. And she finally has the chance to meet them in real life—which she’ll take advantage of, obviously, because no matter how much her family wants her to focus on academics, the Ark is her life.

But when Jimmy and Angel collide, it leaves them both questioning how they see the world, and who, without the Ark, they are.

I Was Born for This was the first novel I’ve read by Alice Oseman (Heartstopper), and I was initially leery—I loved their graphic novels so much, but would the different medium enthrall me the same way? Yet this book utterly blew me away. Describing this book is nearly impossible, because there is so much more to it than Angel or Jimmy or the Ark. It manages to delve effortlessly into questions about how we live our lives, what we believe in, reality, and growing up without ever appearing to, so it simply leaves you with the indelible feeling of hope and being seen.

I absolutely love all the characters. Every character is multidimensional and real, particularly the Ark’s members and Angel’s friends, and their clashes and struggles were so authentic that every interaction made me fall in love with them a little more. Alice Oseman is one of the best writers I’ve read at portraying friendship, and that spark of easy conversation when you connect with someone you have a ton in common with; the dialogue is amazing, with a realism and believability that few other authors capture so well. I also really appreciated the fact that there was no romance between the two primary characters, which felt incredibly refreshing after many other dual-POV YA novels. If you like absorbing, thoughtful realistic fiction stories with a spectacular cast of characters, I highly recommend I Was Born for This to readers ages fourteen and up!

The Golden Boy's Guide to Bipolar by Sonora Reyes (2025)

11/24/2025

Seventeen-year-old Cesar Flores is finally ready to win back his ex-boyfriend. Since breaking up with Jamal in a last-ditch effort to stay in the closet, he’s come out to Mami, his sister, Yami, and their friends, taken his meds faithfully, and gotten his therapist’s blessing to reunite with Jamal.

Everything would be perfect if it weren’t for The Thoughts—the ones that won’t let all his Catholic guilt and internalizations stay buried where he wants them. The louder they become, the more Cesar is once again convinced that he doesn't deserve someone like Jamal—or anyone really.

Cesar can hide a fair amount of shame behind jokes and his “gifted” reputation, but when a manic episode makes his inner turmoil impossible to hide, he’s faced with a stark choice—burn every bridge he has left or, worse—ask for help. But is the mortifying vulnerability of being loved by the people he’s hurt the most a risk he’s willing to take.

The Golden Boy's Guide to Bipolar was released on September 16, 2025.

Sonora Reyes established themself as a force to be reckoned with in the YA contemporary scene with The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School, and The Golden Boy’s Guide to Bipolar further establishes that reputation. Reyes has a talent for crafting achingly compelling protagonists whose struggles are resonant and authentic, and Cesar is a truly incredible character who I couldn’t help but want to follow throughout this story.

The Golden Boy’s Guide to Bipolar has an overall darker tone than the previous book, weaving together Cesar’s struggles with mental health with pervasive Catholic guilt and his complicated relationships with the rest of his family. Once more, Reyes proves their talent to navigate even the weightiest of plots with delicacy and truth, turning this story into one that’s both wrenchingly accurate and thoughtfully handled.

I highly recommend The Golden Boy’s Guide to Bipolar to teen readers looking for a wrenching YA contemporary that rings deeply true.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

Book description credited to the publisher.

The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre by Robin Talley (2020)

11/3/2025

By Nico

High school senior Melody McIntyre has finally achieved her dream: she’s stage managing her school’s production of Les Misérables. She has the organization, the passion, the talent. What Melody doesn’t have is a history of successful relation-ships, particularly not during shows…but that was never part of the job description, anyway.

But when her fellow tech crew members point out that her every breakup has preceded theatrical disaster, Melody realizes the only way to keep Les Mis safe might be to swear off love. It’ll be easy, surely—she’s got more than enough on her plate.

But then theater protegee Odile Rose auditions for the show. And despite Melody’s best intentions, she finds herself doing exactly what she swore not to: falling in love.

I truly loved The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre! This is the perfect lesbian rom-com for anyone who’s ever even dabbled in theater—or someone simply looking for a fun contemporary story in their life. Melody is such a fabulous character—scattered and also unconfident while also having the authority and dreams she needs to be stage manager, I absolutely adore her sharp voice and hilarious insecurities. Every detail of this show and process absolutely shines, and the wider cast sparkles with realism and quirkiness. I highly recommend The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre to readers ages thirteen and up who like rom-coms or theater.

Family Week by Sarah Moon (2025)

6/23/2025

For as long as they can remember, Mac, Lina, Milo and Avery have celebrated Family Week together in “the smallest, gayest town in the world”—Provincetown, Massachusetts.

But this summer, their big rented beach house feels different. Avery’s dads are splitting up, and her life feels like it’s falling apart. Milo’s flunked seventh grade, which means everyone is moving on to bigger and better things except for him. Mac’s on his way to a progressive boarding school that lets transgender kids like him play soccer, but it means leaving his twin sister, Lina, and his moms—and the safety of home—behind.

Everything is changing, and for Lina, it feels like it’s happening with or without her. Avery, Milo, and Mac know this is going to be their last summer together. But Lina can’t accept that—and if she can make this the best summer ever, maybe she’ll convince them that there will be a Family Week next year. Good things might not last in the real world, but they do in P-town…. Right?

I really wanted to like Family Week, but it fell a little short for me. If you like sweet, straightforward, and family-driven, this could absolutely be a book you’ll enjoy. However, I felt like there wasn’t enough time spent on any individual plotline, and it often felt as though events were happening somewhat randomly rather than being unified by a continuous plot, particularly in the middle of the book.

Individually, I liked all of the characters, and their individual struggles were very vivid and relevant, with particularly poignant moments for each one. Personally, I connected a lot with Milo and Avery, and I loved the overall themes of acceptance and queer joy within a very contemporary society. It also did a really good job of creating a narrative that revolves around queer families and a sense of belonging. (And I love the cover!) As a whole, though, I didn’t feel like it quite hung together, maybe because the short length combined with the many points of view made it so that I never felt fully anchored in any one story until close to the end.

On a content-warning side, two of the major characters contemplate/attempt self-harm in the second half of the book, and though it’s left somewhat ambiguous, it’s more than worthy of a CW.

2.5 stars, rounded up because I truly do feel that some readers could enjoy this book, particularly younger middle schoolers - it just wasn’t for me!

Family Week was released on April 15, 2025.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions expressed here are my own.

ages 11+ / ARC / family / fiction / friends / middle grade / realistic fiction / LGBTQ+ / standalone

Book description credited to the publisher.

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (2021)

5/12/2025

By Nico

Chiamaka Adebayo is here to win. Becoming a Senior Prefect at Niveus Private Academy is just the latest step in her determined crusade to become the brightest, the best, student her school has to offer.

Devon Richards prefers to blend in—being chosen as a Senior Prefect, alongside the only other Black student in the school, is only a surprise. Sure, he has big dreams—he wouldn’t be at Niveus if he didn’t—but his musical aspirations don’t require the same flashiness as Chiamaka’s campaign for schoolwide fame and respect.

And then the texts begin.

Besides their sinister alias--Aces—Devon and Chiamaka know nothing about the anonymous texter. But Aces knows a whole lot about them, and their texts reveal Devon and Chiamaka’s secrets to the entire school…secrets that put both their futures at risk.

I’ve seen Ace of Spades virtually everywhere since it came out—library shelves, Bookstagram recommendations, article features—and yet I didn’t pick it up for some time, probably because contemporary and mystery are not my favorite genres. Now, I truly can’t recommend it enough. A fast-paced, dark critique of institutionalized racism and elite private educations, Ace of Spades genuinely grabbed me from the very first page, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.

To begin with, the characters are phenomenal. Chiamaka and Devon leap off the page for their dimensionality and strong voices, and their complex relationships with other characters and each other ground the entire book. Initially, they seem to fall into classic private school archetypes—quiet, nerdy loner, and vicious popular girl—but almost immediately those expected threads collapse and subvert, weaving characters and a story that it’s impossible to stop reading. I also need to shout-out to the queer rep in both POV characters—I wasn’t expecting it entering the story, but I particularly loved [spoiler alert!] Chiamaka’s developing relationship with her sexuality, and how she handled it as something of the least of her problems while it not being shoved aside. Àbíké-Íyímídé is a true master of the mystery/thriller; twists unfold with intense precision, every chapter feeling every bit as premeditated as the master plan behind the events. I highly recommend Ace of Spades to readers ages fifteen and up, even those who aren’t typical mystery readers, looking for a piercing, brilliant take on the YA thriller.

Jamie by L D Lapinski (2024)

4/14/2025

By Nico

Jamie Rambeau doesn't want to protest anything - they just want to keep being their happy nonbinary self with their best friends, Ash and Daisy. But then Jamie learns that the local middle schools are divided - one for boys, one for girls. For Daisy and Ash, that means their friend group is getting split up...but what does it mean for Jamie, who's not a boy or a girl?

All Jamie wants is to find a school that will accept them for who they are - preferably without separating them from their lifelong best friends. But when the adults in Jamie's life won't do what they need for them to get some basic acceptance, it may be time for them to take their cause to the streets...or even the rooftops.

I've been itching to read Jamie ever since it was released (I've loved Lapinski's Strangeworlds Travel Agency series, and a book marketed as 'middle grade nonbinary joy' couldn't sound more like something I'd want to read), and I'm so happy I've finally gotten around to it! This is a book we need now more than ever - one that thoughtfully teaches middle schoolers just how ordinary it is to be nonbinary, that shows people willing to stand up for who they are even on a local scale, and perhaps most importantly, one that is filled with joy.

I love the characters in this book so much! Jamie and their friends, the heads of the two schools, Jamie's family...every character is rendered with thoughtful multidimensionality, allowing me to understand even the people I didn't agree with. Jamie drives this story forward with determination and passion, and I loved every minute of following them through it. As a nonbinary teen myself, Lapinski expertly captures the feeling of being forced to choose something that doesn't represent you, and I think it'll ring true to nonbinary and genderqueer people of all ages, all while maintaining a dose of joy that keeps the story uplifting.

Lapinski definitely wrote this book with a desire to spread awareness, but they integrate this so seamlessly into the story that it feels genuine rather than awkward. The interspersed 'Jamie Rambeau's Guide to Words' entries - including both queer/nonbinary terms and just other words that are particularly important to Jamie - makes this book accessible to readers who might not know what being nonbinary is, but without alienating queer and nonbinary readers by making them feel like they're not actually the target audience of a book that finally centers their identities.

I recommend Jamie so highly to readers ages ten and up who love contemporary stories and are maybe questioning their gender themselves - five extremely well-deserved stars!

ages 10+ / book group pick / family / fiction / friends / LGBTQ+ / middle grade / realistic fiction / standalone

Ollie In Between by Jess Callans (2025)

3/12/2025

As endearing as it is humorous, this debut middle grade novel by Jess Callans is a tender, queer coming of age story about the courage it takes to find your own voice and choosing to just be.

Puberty, AKA the ultimate biological predator, is driving a wedge between soon-to-be 13 year old Ollie Thompson and their lifelong friends. Too much of a girl for their neighborhood hockey team, but not girly enough for their boy-crazed BFF, Ollie doesn’t know where they fit. And their usual ability to camouflage? Woefully disrupted.

When a school project asks them to write an essay on what it means to be a woman (if anyone’s got an answer, that’d be great), and one of their new friends is the target of bullying, Ollie is caught between the safety of fleeing from their own differences or confronting the risks of fighting to take their own path forward.

Ollie In Between will be released on April 8, 2025.

I really wanted to love Ollie In Between, but it consistently fell somewhat short of my expectations. I’m always seeking out new middle-grade stories of nonbinary and trans self-discovery, and based on the description, I was hoping Ollie In Between would find its place among my favorites. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite manage that.

There was a lot to enjoy about this book, from the thoughtful exploration of womanhood and how the difficulty to define gender makes it even more difficult to understand your nonbinary identity to the Ollie’s complex family dynamics to the transphobia and homophobia of their peers to the new friend group they find themself part of. However, it fell a little flat for me. This story felt a little more wandering than I wanted it to, a little too aimless to be character-driven, and though I appreciated elements of the ending, it was a little too tidy for me.

Overall, I think that Ollie In Between is a valuable book to read and share, because I think many readers discovering themselves will find themselves in it—I think I would’ve five or six years ago. However, I wasn’t personally a huge fan.

2.5/5 stars, rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

Book description credited to the publisher.

ages 11+ / ARC / fiction / LGBTQ+ / middle grade / realistic fiction / standalone

It’s All or Nothing, Vale by Andrea Beatriz Arango (2025)

2/10/2025

It's All or Nothing, Vale will be released on February 11, 2025 (tomorrow!)

Nothing can stop Valentina Camacho, fencing champion. Not bad days or new competitors or whatever else the world throws at her—no, because Vale trains more, pushes herself further, and works harder than anyone else.

Nothing, that is, until the accident.

After months of physical therapy, Vale is finally cleared to fence again…but it feels as though the world has moved on without her. While she’s struggling to find the strength and stamina to execute once-simple maneuvers, her competitors have grown stronger, and better. And then there’s Mykra, a new fencer who might be better than Vale ever was.

Vale has only ever been a fencer. And that means she’ll do anything it takes to get back to where she used to be.

But what if that old Vale isn’t coming back?

This was my first read by Andrea Beatriz Arango, but I know I’ll be checking out her other books immediately. This is one of the best free verse books I can recall reading, with the perfect balance of lyricism, authenticity, and uniqueness to make me fall in love with Vale’s story. This story—one of a middle-school champion struggling to find her identity after losing what she grounded herself in—is one I can’t recall seeing before but that I absolutely loved. Vale is so utterly relatable: determined, perfectionistic, self-sufficient, and yet ultimately incredibly vulnerable, I loved every beat of her voice and her story. The queer romance plotline here was also incredibly sweet, adding a light touch that made me smile. I truly can’t recommend It’s All or Nothing, Vale enough to readers ages ten and up—five extraordinarily well-deserved stars!

ages 10+ / ARC / book group pick / fiction / friends / in verse / middle grade / realistic fiction / standalone / sports / LGBTQ+

Thank you to Random House Children's and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Mallory in Full Color by Elisa Stone Leahy (2024)

11/4/2024

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions expressed here are my own.

Mallory in Full Color will be released on November 19, 2024.

Mallory is an expert on pretending. She’s so used to becoming whoever the people around her need her to be—the perfect daughter, the agreeing friend, the responsible older sister—that it’s no wonder she finds it so easy to put herself in the shoes of completely different characters in her anonymous online webcomic.

But it’s also exhausting—and when she starts skipping swim practice to attend the local library’s comic club, she can’t figure out how to be herself, especially when confronted with her new friend Noa, an effortlessly confident enby who Mallory can’t help but develop a crush on. If she’s as outgoing and self-assured as Noa, surely they’ll like her, too.

But when her webcomic goes viral and her classmates start guessing who its author is—and Mallory finds herself increasingly uncomfortable as the drag queen story hour she and Noa are planning is faced with mounting backlash—Mallory must decide: keep pretending to be someone she’s not to please everyone, or face the consequences for her lies and discover who she really is.

Despite a strong concept and story elements I typically enjoy—queer self-discovery, developing friendships, standing up against library bans, artsy protagonist—I failed to truly connect with the characters, storyline, and writing voice of Mallory in Full Color. Although I understood Mallory’s struggles with expressing herself around different people, it didn’t altogether ring true.

I think this was partially because the aspects of the setup which made me believe that Mallory acting in this way were truly necessary were virtually debunked by the end. For example, the conflict between her friends made me believe some of their friendships would fall apart if Mallory was authentic, and the anger they felt upon discovering Mallory’s comics about them was legit. However, the ease with which all of them accepted Mallory felt almost anticlimactic, making Mallory’s anxiety appear misplaced rather than legitimate. I appreciated the happy ending, but the book’s execution made it feel like a middle-grade friendship version of the infamous miscommunication trope.

That said, I think middle schoolers who are struggling with the same need to people please as Mallory will connect with her and find the ending reassuring rather than flat. Her introduction to Noa, who is nonbinary, and the backlash over drag queen story hours and other public library events also provided a thoughtful and realistic introduction to gender diversity and homophobic/transphobic attitudes.

In short, although I don’t think Mallory in Full Color will become a favorite of most outside of its target audience, I think it’ll both be enjoyed by and helpful for the middle schoolers it’s written for.

3.5 stars

Ash’s Cabin by Jen Wang (2024)

7/29/2024

Ash’s Cabin will be released on August 13, 2024.

Out in nature, surrounded by birdsong and the feeling of breeze on their bike, Ash feels at home. Everywhere else? They’re constantly bombarded by people who don’t understand them—their name, their pronouns, or just why they care so much about the planet not getting destroyed. When Ash remembers the cabin Grandpa Edwin talked about building, hidden away in the California woods for when he wanted to escape the monotony of modern life, it sounds like paradise.

So when Ash has a chance to run away and seek out Grandpa Edwin’s cabin themself, they seize it immediately. What could be better than surviving out on their own, unanchored from everything they can’t bear to live with? Ash is determined to find themself out in the wilderness, but survival might be more of a challenge than they expected.

The Prince and the Dressmaker, author-illustrator Jen Wang’s first graphic novel, is quite literally the book that made me start reading graphic novels, so I was truly thrilled when I got the chance to read an ARC of Wang’s upcoming book, Ash’s Cabin, through NetGalley. Although on the surface a very different storyline, Ash’s Cabin holds many of the same elements that made me love The Prince and the Dressmaker so much—a thoughtful storyline and beautiful art contained in a tale that leaves you feeling profoundly more at peace at its conclusion than when you started it.

It’s difficult to create a wilderness story that is at once modern and utterly believable, but Wang does so flawlessly, and Ash’s world absorbed me seemingly at once. Their struggles with the larger world and with their own sense of self feel fundamentally authentic and believable, and as I read, I effortlessly traveled with their thoughts and emotions, something I think is sometimes hard in the graphic novel format.

Ultimately, Ash’s Cabin is a beautiful, authentic, sometimes painful, and thoughtful story of growing up, finding yourself, and the natural world—one I truly can’t recommend enough to readers ages twelve and up.

Thank you to NetGalley and First Second Books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions expressed here are my own.

Just Shy of Ordinary by A. J. Sass (2024)

4/16/2024

By Nico

Homeschooler Shai has grown up with their struggling mom and their best friend, Mille. Life hasn’t always been easy, but their family and friends have supported them through everything, including coming out as genderfluid a few months ago.

But back when COVID started, Shai started picking at the hair on their arms—and even though lockdown is long over, they haven’t managed to stop. Luckily, they have a plan to break the habit: they’ll strike out and make a new normal for themself. A new normal that includes going to public school for the first time.

Their plan, though, doesn’t predict her entering as a ninth grader instead of an eighth grader when her test scores place her ahead. Or her growing distance from Mille as she gets to know new friends at school. Or a project that leaves them exploring their Jewish heritage for the first time.

As public school turns out to be a little more than Shai bargained for, they’ll have to find a normal for themself that’s not just new, but right, too.

I’ve loved every book A. J. Sass has written, and Just Shy of Ordinary is not just no exception—it might be my favorite yet! Thoughtful, authentic, and hopeful, this book quite literally feels like it’s about me a few years ago, and every inch of it rings true. Quiet but incredibly compelling, I particularly loved its exploration of identity and how different facets of our lives intersect to make us who we are.

A lot of middle-grade books, particularly those centered on evolving friendships, can feel a bit drama-prone, but this was the opposite, instead encapsulating the day-to-day challenges and changes of middle and high school with an impeccable and irresistible realism. I loved Shai; their anxiety, stubborn self-sufficiency, and reactions to public school made me instantly connect with them, and watching them grow and learn was so much fun. The feeling of change was so palpable in this book, and so were all the things it triggers—anxiety, uncertainty, struggles—but throughout it all the sense of hope ties together this story into something not just uplifting, but beautiful. I highly recommend Just Shy of Ordinary to readers ages ten and up, particularly those who love middle-grade realistic fiction or fell in love with Ana on the Edge.

Linus and Etta Could Use a Win by Caroline Huntoon (2024)

3/18/2024

Thank you to Caroline Huntoon and NetGalley for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review! This book comes out on May 7, 2024.

Etta is Doolittle Middle School’s resident anti-everything girl—fiery, cynical, and green-haired, she’s far more likely to be watching her favorite horror movies or working on her application for Nova, the alternative high school she’s determined to get into next year, than reaching out to the new kid. Plus, after her longtime best friend, Marigold, stopped hanging out with her over the summer, Etta’s plan for eighth grade is basically to keep to herself.

But that’s before she meets Linus, who’s new to Doolittle after coming out as trans last year. He doesn’t want to stand out. Running for student council? That’s out of the question, particularly while Linus is trying to deal with his grandmother, who constantly messes up his name and pronouns.

Then Marigold makes a secret bet with Etta. To prove that Marigold isn’t as great as everyone thinks she is—and to improve her Nova application—Etta will get Linus elected to student council president. Sure, Etta has no campaigning experience, and Linus doesn’t know about the bet. But what could go wrong?

As Etta and Linus’s friendship develops and the bet’s stakes get even higher, Etta has to decide if beating Marigold is worth manipulating her new best friend—and if their friendship will survive the strain if she tells the truth.

I truly loved Linus and Etta Could Use a Win. Fast-paced, quirky, and unique, I will hands-down be rereading and recommending this book widely. Linus, Etta, and even Marigold could all easily have fallen into stereotypical, tropey characters, but instead they all quite literally shine; I particularly love Linus, whose relationships and struggles gave the story such dimensionality. The tension within his family over his grandmother rang so true, and the development of that plotline was one of my favorite parts of this book! I couldn’t stop reading this book, and I certainly didn’t want to—when it ended, I truly wished there were another hundred pages to go. I highly recommend Linus and Etta Could Use a Win to readers ages nine and up, particularly those who love queer middle grade books, friendship stories, and incredibly relatable characters.