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jessrock's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I appreciated what this book was doing but it felt way too “a very special episode” to really work for me. It’s about a budding friendship-or-maybe-more between a girl learning to live with her physical disability and a girl struggling with panic attacks, and their friendship with a Minecraft-obsessed Black biracial boy at what I assume was a mostly white middle school. They have a terrifying experience involving an active shooter situation at school and are each trying to process it in their own ways while coming to terms with the fact that their lived experiences of the same event were wildly different. I liked the characters but am too far removed from middle school myself to know if this book would feel as heavyhanded to a tween as it did to me.
gabs93's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
smalltownbookmom's review against another edition
4.0
A middle grade book about two friends whose lives are rocked by an active shooter drill at their school - one they didn’t realize was a drill.
Living in Canada I’ve never had to do drills like these at school and it makes me so sad this is a real part of life for children in America - a literal matter of life or death
Living in Canada I’ve never had to do drills like these at school and it makes me so sad this is a real part of life for children in America - a literal matter of life or death
mikeyandherbooks's review
E-arc provided by Netgalley
I really loved this (more than this author's first book). It had a unique premise and while some of the arguments/issues characters had with each other were a little dumb to me i still found it an enjoyable read!
I really loved this (more than this author's first book). It had a unique premise and while some of the arguments/issues characters had with each other were a little dumb to me i still found it an enjoyable read!
sheepishreader's review
4.0
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for honest review.
Trigger Warnings: physical and mental illnesses, school shootings, anxiety attacks, religious abuse, etc.
This is a middle grade that covers some pretty difficult topics. I think it handles it all very well, as well as having amazing representations of various mental illnesses. I felt very represented as as person with anxiety and ADHD.
The characters were really well developed, and I feel they were very vivid on the page. I think a lot of kids will be able to see themselves in this book.
I'd write more, but parts of this book were a bit triggering for me. Overall, amazing middle grade that could teach anyone about the important issues going on today.
Trigger Warnings: physical and mental illnesses, school shootings, anxiety attacks, religious abuse, etc.
This is a middle grade that covers some pretty difficult topics. I think it handles it all very well, as well as having amazing representations of various mental illnesses. I felt very represented as as person with anxiety and ADHD.
The characters were really well developed, and I feel they were very vivid on the page. I think a lot of kids will be able to see themselves in this book.
I'd write more, but parts of this book were a bit triggering for me. Overall, amazing middle grade that could teach anyone about the important issues going on today.
notinjersey's review
5.0
This was a lovely book about two girls with different sets of worries and how they support one another. Avery has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and as this effects her joints, she is in a lot of pain, must go to physical therapy, and worries that she will lose her independence. Avery has two moms – one who is trans – and she is pansexual herself. Sarah’s aunt recently passed away and then her cousin and best friend moved. Now she worries about losing people she cares about and has panic attacks. She draws and journals and her parts of the book are illustrated as if they are pages from her journal. Sarah’s family is religious and her older brother is gay, which causes for some conflict in her house. The two become friends after an active shooting drill at school that was more real than kids should experience. Along with their friend Mason, who is biracial and has ADHD, they come up with plans to stop this type of live action drill from happening again. They have different ideas on how to achieve this goal – whether by resistance or by revenge. Although the kids in this book were young, in some ways they seemed quite mature, especially Sarah, who found ways to deal with her panic on her own, rather than by getting help. The representation and themes in this book were great and it was a perfect read for Mental Health Awareness month. The author shared themself through Avery and has a post on how they are similar – I definitely recommend the author’s IG for more on Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, as well as on anxiety and panic.
paracosm's review against another edition
4.0
I could count all the middle grade books I've read this year with the fingers on one hand and still have fingers left. Still, this was quite good. It has a lot of diversity and it manages to talk about quite serious topics while still being "child-friendly".
There are times where it feels incredibly heavy-handed. But it's written for children, so I don't have much reason to complain. Still, I like it when books have rooms for interpretation.
It's one of those books where one of the POVs is from journal entries, but the character that writes it doesn't wait until the end to the day to do so. Instead, she pulls out her journal in the middle of whatever she's doing and starts writing. Doesn't matter if she's in the middle of class, in a moving car, during lunch. Nobody ever comments on it.
One weird detail I found is the fact that there's a 13 year old girl with multiple piercings in both ears and a nose ring. The has around seven of them or more. I'm all in favor of body modifications, but isn't she too young for that? By the time the book starts they've been there for a while. She could have been getting piercings as young as 10 or 11 eleven years old. What kind of piercer puts a nose ring in a elementary school kid? Again, nobody ever comments on it.
There are times where it feels incredibly heavy-handed. But it's written for children, so I don't have much reason to complain. Still, I like it when books have rooms for interpretation.
It's one of those books where one of the POVs is from journal entries, but the character that writes it doesn't wait until the end to the day to do so. Instead, she pulls out her journal in the middle of whatever she's doing and starts writing. Doesn't matter if she's in the middle of class, in a moving car, during lunch. Nobody ever comments on it.
One weird detail I found is the fact that there's a 13 year old girl with multiple piercings in both ears and a nose ring. The has around seven of them or more. I'm all in favor of body modifications, but isn't she too young for that? By the time the book starts they've been there for a while. She could have been getting piercings as young as 10 or 11 eleven years old. What kind of piercer puts a nose ring in a elementary school kid? Again, nobody ever comments on it.
chronicallybookish's review against another edition
3.75
This was cute, and I really enjoyed the narration. Both characters were voicy in the best way. The story was a bit tedious in its repetition at the time, and while I liked the general portrayal of Sarah’s anxiety, Im not a fan of the fact that, in the under two months in which the book takes place, she is able to get it from completely out of control to manageable with no help, no therapy, and only a single google search’s worth of CBT exercise. That’s not something a 12 year old can do alone, and I think it may do more harm than good to make it out as if that’s achievable to any 12 year olds with anxiety disorders. I know if I had read it at 12, when my anxiety was out of control, I’d have felt like a failure for not being able to do what Sarah did.