6/10, looking back at this book it wasn't a good middle grade novel and I highly doubt that I'd pick up this book again but I haven't read her other books like Hello, Universe and We Dream of Space and they sound more promising and intriguing as this, where do I even begin. It starts off with 12 characters living in a town called Fawn Creek, hence the name and I found it hard to keep track of every single one of them but at least there's a page with all of their names on it but anyways nothing ever changes there until a new character called Orchid Mason arrives. She was different from everyone else because she claims that she visited New York and even Paris and that impressed them which happens only a few pages after the introduction of Fawn Creek; I liked that part because it shows the tight knit community of it and all the people there know each other. It however quickly got tedious to read as it was funny and charming at first however as it dragged on I started to not enjoy it and towards the end some of the characters visited Orchid's home, turns out that she just moved from town to town and never actually visited New York and Paris; I wondered why would she lie about that just to make herself feel better or something along the lines of that but anyways the ending just petered out and wrapped up the book on a low note. ( )

Fawn Creek, Louisiana is a town so small that there are only 12 children in the entire seventh-grade class and they've all known each other since kindergarten. That is, until newcomer Orchid Mason shows up at their school with tales of her life before Fawn Creek in far-flung places like Paris and New York.

This was a strange book. The author is no hack so the book is well-written. But it's somehow got a large scope (13 middle school students all as more-or-less main characters) and a small stage (tiny town with tiny problems) all at the same time. Nothing really happens in the book, other than a local dance. Yet at the same time, characters make movements toward growth as people accepting of themselves and others.

Despite having a bit of climactic moment with the fight that breaks out at the dance, the ending just kind of fizzles out. I don't like that many things were introduced just to be left up in the air or not fully explained. The book somehow feels fairly innocent for seventh graders (although likely the actual audience of readers would be children slightly younger), but then the last few chapters throw around concepts and words including "junkie," "prostitute," and "prison," without going into any follow-up about whether any of those rumors are true. In general, the adults in the town are useless, either not paying attention or not being supportive so there's nothing really guiding the children in the book nor the ones reading it.

While I don't think this was a bad book per se, I struggle to think of anyone I would recommend it to as I think there are far better realistic fiction books for a middle-grade audience out there already -- some even by this very same author! ( )

While this features an extremely small class of kids who’ve grown up together (along with one newcomer who intrigues everyone), it’s still a fairly large cast of characters to throw at a reader, it greatly helps that it’s clear whose point of view you’re in at any given moment and the characters have such distinct personalities and issues that it doesn’t take long before you’re able to keep who’s who straight in your head.

So many books, particularly the romances I read idealize small town life, admittedly, I kind of do, too, but it was refreshing to see a different take on how that “smallness” may affect some people, especially kids.

Bullying and self-esteem are central to this story, the cruel way these kids treat one another is cringe-inducing at times and sadly realistic. All of that means this isn’t the most fun read, however, it has its heartening moments when a parent steps up to support her child, when a boy likes the unexpected girl, when kids unite in aid of another, and when a truth comes out and a true friend stays.

As mentioned there are several points of view in this novel yet it’s absent the point of view of a key character who I longed to hear more from outside of how others saw her and in a similar vein, in the end, where there is semi-closure for some characters, I was left wanting more when it came to that same character. Intellectually, I can see where a lack of tidiness in an ending is life-like, however, my heart was desperate for at least some hint as to how this character who I cared about fared following a traumatic event, the book felt borderline incomplete without that follow up. ( )

Fawn Creek is a small town in Louisiana - so small that its seventh grade has only twelve students. But then Orchid Mason comes to town, and there are thirteen, throwing the balance of the class off-kilter. Will Orchid join popular girls (and cousins) Janie and Abby? Or the "God Squad"? Neither - Orchid becomes friends with Greyson and Dorothy, who have been best friends with each other for years. Dorothy is the shy only child of older parents, and Greyson is a second son who differs from his typically masculine older brother Trevor in every way; instead of duck hunting, he wants to design clothes. Mysterious, glamorous Orchid tells tales of faraway places, bringing out the best in some of her new classmates, and the worst in others, culminating in an attempt on her beautiful hair during a community dance - an event that forces the Fawn Creek kids to decide which side they want to be on.

See also: My Jasper June by Laurel Snyder; The Next Great Paulie Fink by Ali Benjamin

Quotes

Dedicated "to anyone with dreams bigger than their hometowns"

Epitaph: "Be nice. The world is a small town." -Austin Kleon

Sometimes Orchid sounded like an adult trapped inside a twelve-year-old. (63)

"My dad says you can find something good in anything, if you look hard enough." (Orchid, 64)

And when folks made up their mind about someone or something, they usually only saw what they wanted to see. (Slowly/Lehigh, 92)

"Either a person is nice, or they aren't."
"Some people are a little of both." (Madeline and Janie, 139)

"It's easy to make assumptions, but you have to view things from all different sides." (science teacher Mrs. Ursu, 163)

Sometimes there's nothing more frightening than walking through a door. (255)

Greyson imagined that each laugh, each stare, each snicker was a cookie, and he ate and ate and ate until he was full and happy. (310) ( )