Erin Entrada Kelly

Erin Entrada Kelly has become one of my favorite authors for middle grade readers. This latest is just achingly good. Told in turns by three siblings, each of whom separately reach a low place when they wonder what is even the point of anything. I think most adults have felt that way at some point in their lives, but it is so hard to see it in kids, and when teachers see it it is heartbreaking.

The book is set in January, 1986. Cash, the oldest sibling, is in danger of flunking 7th grade show more again. He struggles in school and lives and breathes basketball but isn't good enough to remain on his middle school team, even if he did have the grades to be eligible. His friendships are shaky as his cohort becomes obsessed with girls and take digs at Cash about how close they are to being done with middle school. Cash feels like he is rubbish at everything and wonders what is even the point of anything.

Fitch and Bird are 12 year-old twins, now in the same grade as their older brother. Fitch is video-arcade obsessed. He reminds me of my brother back then, when quarters were gold and any favor could be bought with one. Fitch has this frustration and rage that burst forth from him, causing him to deeply hurt people around him, and the guilt of that rage is crushing him. He wonders what is even the point of anything. Bird is one of those quirky oddball kids who is super smart and and always on the periphery of the in crowd. She is an engineer at heart, living to take things apart and create detailed schematics of machine insides with explanations of how things work. She thinks of her family as a broken machine, and it really is. Her parents' relationship has deteriorated into a toxic cloud that poisons the atmosphere. Her dad resents her mom for going back to school and putting the family into debt, and since she is now working full time she resents their previously accepted gender roles where she does all of the domestic work. Bird hears her father snark at her mother not to "ruin" Bird with feminism and her mother tells Bird not to eat the sugary cereals her brothers do because she won't be skinny forever. This family's disfunction is so real. But they keep ticking along because unnoticed, Bird is the piece that keeps the machine running.

Until... a special science teacher brings the excitement and pride of the imminent Challenger launch (with the historic addition of a teacher to the crew) to her classroom. Bird is captivated. She has conversations in her head with engineer and astronaut Judith Resnick, dreams of becoming the first female shuttle commander, and wins a spot to watch the launch live by writing an essay. Anyone who lived through this knows what's coming, and when it does, Bird is shattered, and wonders what is even the point of anything. Bird's brothers, who rarely even notice Bird, do notice, and reach out in the sweetest and most touching way.

I highly recommend anything written by Erin Entrada Kelly. This one is really special. show less

Middle school seemed like an endless aching game where everyone knew the rules but her.

I need to get back to the box of books I brought home from my library over the summer. I've picked up and put down a few of them, searching for *something*. Well, this one stuck. Stuck like read-it-in-one-sitting stuck. Loved it. The narrative goes back and forth between Charlotte, a 7th grader in Pennsylvania, and Ben, a 6th grader in Louisiana. They are friendly rivals in online Scrabble. They used to show more play each other in a protected, elementary-students-only environment, but when Charlotte went on to middle school she lost access and now they play privately. you call that a play? sorry/not sorry about your devastating loss, prepare to suffer my vernacular wrath. Though they don't know it, they have a lot in common. They are both GT kids (called TAG for Talented And Gifted in the book), they both are going through trauma at home (Charlotte's dad suffered a heart attack and is hospitalized; Ben's parents are divorcing unexpectedly), and they both are bewildered and friendless in the hostile environment known as middle school. I've read a lot of lost-in-middle school books over the years, and I think this is one of the best. Ms. Entrada Kelly writes with remarkable restraint, and the result is a heartfelt story that is achingly realistic and believable. I think I liked this one more than her last - [Hello Universe] - and that book won the Newbery Medal. Highly recommended. show less

Erin Entrada Kelly wrote one of the best works of middle grade realism I’ve ever read - her Newbery-winning Hello, Universe is simply sublime. Lalani of the Distant Sea is her first fantasy book, so I was curious to see if she could write speculative fiction nearly as well as she does realistic. I was delighted to find that the answer is, unequivocally, yes.

Lalani, inspired by Filipino folklore, combines the sweeping lyrical voice of a fable with strong characterization. As in Kelly’s show more previous work, there is a strong emphasis on the human duty to be kind to one another, but that doesn’t mean this book is all puppies and rainbows. In fact, it’s sometimes surprisingly gruesome. Kelly doesn’t pull any punches. Hard decisions are made, and there are hard consequences, bloody deaths. One thing I liked so much about Hello, Universe was that the bully did not magically unlearn all his toxic, racist, ableist behavior and become friends with the protagonists over the course of a day (the book’s timeline) - he lost. Lalani takes that even further by having an adult abuser get his comeuppance in a major way. It’s very satisfying to read a kids’ book that doesn’t shy away from that kind of thing, that values love and kindness and that recognizes that sometimes, in order to be loving and kind, you need to reject abusers and prioritize their victims. This book tackles misogyny and toxic masculinity without ever becoming preachy - the narrative speaks for itself. And Lalani herself, a somewhat insecure girl who learns just how strong she can be when it means fighting for for the people she loves, is a terrific protagonist.

This is an exciting, tender, compassionate book about the courage it takes to stand up for the vulnerable. One of a kind. show less

Future rock star, or friendless misfit? That’s no choice at all. In this debut tween novel, twelve-year-old Apple grapples with being different; with friends and backstabbers and following her dreams.

Apple has always felt a little different from her classmates. She and her mother moved to Louisiana from the Philippines when she was little, and her mother still cooks Filipino foods, makes mistakes with her English, and chastises Apple for becoming “too American.” It becomes unbearable show more in middle school, when the boys—the stupid, stupid boys—in Apple’s class put her name on the Dog Log, the list of the most unpopular girls in school. When Apple’s friends turn on her and everything about her life starts to seem weird and embarrassing, Apple turns to music. If she can just save enough to buy a guitar and learn to play, maybe she can change herself. It might be the music that saves her . . . or it might be her two new friends, who show how special she really is. show less