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A review by mldavisreads
What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski
challenging
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Middle grade contemporary realistic fiction. Wow. This book was so well done. Anna is a Polish-American that just moved from Chicago to Madison, Wisconsin. She is young for her grade, 12 in 8th grade, and is not looking forward to starting at a new school. At the beginning of the year, Anna is surprised to hear her classmates politely clap for her name when her birthday is announced, but then nobody acknowledges the birthday of her classmate Rachel Riley. There is clearly something going on and Anna becomes determined to find out what it is.
Anna is a big fan of podcasts and has aspirations to go to a podcast camp over the summer. She also has a social issues class that requires a year-long project on an issue of importance. Anna decides to pursue the Rachel Riley matter for both. Though her teacher doesn't exactly approve the subject for class, Anna is not to be deterred.
But as Anna interviews various classmates and observes more of the social dynamics, it becomes clear there is something much bigger than just Rachel's social ostracization going on. References to "the game" come up and bring usually chatty girls to silence. Friends are friends outside of school but don't speak in school. Anna enlists her coder/ hacker sister Nicola to find additional information and what she finds sends her into a tailspin.
Highly engaging, just the right amount of mystery as Anna processes everything. The ending was very well-done. This book deals a lot with sexual harassment at the middle school level, and who is responsible for addressing it and stopping it. An important book but also a great story.
Anna is a big fan of podcasts and has aspirations to go to a podcast camp over the summer. She also has a social issues class that requires a year-long project on an issue of importance. Anna decides to pursue the Rachel Riley matter for both. Though her teacher doesn't exactly approve the subject for class, Anna is not to be deterred.
But as Anna interviews various classmates and observes more of the social dynamics, it becomes clear there is something much bigger than just Rachel's social ostracization going on. References to "the game" come up and bring usually chatty girls to silence. Friends are friends outside of school but don't speak in school. Anna enlists her coder/ hacker sister Nicola to find additional information and what she finds sends her into a tailspin.
Highly engaging, just the right amount of mystery as Anna processes everything. The ending was very well-done. This book deals a lot with sexual harassment at the middle school level, and who is responsible for addressing it and stopping it. An important book but also a great story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment