Elliott is on the spectrum and has ADHD. He’s most comfortable and happy in the kitchen cooking elaborate-for-a-middle-grader meals, but lately even cooking can’t calm the disturbances in his brain caused by his father remarrying and the new wife being pregnant. His grades have fallen in a drastic way, and there was an “incident” that he now must go to weekly therapy to work through. The one thing he’s looking forward to is summer cooking camp. But when his father decides that Elliott should be made to pay for the damages he caused with this “incident,” Elliott realizes he’ll have to use the money he worked hard all year to save for camp to do so. Just when things couldn’t get any worse, they do: his friends cut him out of a group project at school and he's left the only one in the class without any partners, sad and embarrassed. But it turns out that the Most Popular Girl in School also doesn’t have a partner after she leaves her own friend group in a huff. And then the two of them come up with a plan that just may possibly earn them an A, and enough money for Elliott to pay back his father *and* go to cooking camp.

I get what this one is trying to do, but I don’t think it works. Elliott is just…not a likable character. And I get that the author is trying to give him a growth arc (from so hyper-focused on something that he’s unaware that he’s being offensive to other people’s feelings, to having a wider appreciation for the fact that those other opinions can also be valid), but the beginning of that arc is painted with too strong a brush stroke and with way too much paint, so that it’s difficult to redeem the character in a believable way. There’s also too much of Elliott’s inner dialogue that tries to be clever/funny and instead feels forced, which makes it easy to pull back the curtain to see the adult author behind there pretending to be a kid. It just didn’t work for me. To be fair, I think that that must be the most difficult part of writing for children: getting those young voices right and authentic. And I honestly think it’s rarely done really well. ( )

Honestly Elliot is written from the perspective of a kid with ADHD; it also explores family life in two homes that have different values and styles. There are lots of obstacles for this unlikely hero to overcome - his best friend has moved away, he is having a hard time to adjusting to the middle-school work load, he is trying navigate the middle social scene. He's a kid who loves to cook, but his father disapproves.
This is a big-hearted story about a kid trying to find the best way to be his best self. ( )

Recommended Ages: Gr.

Plot Summary: Elliott has a hard time keeping his school work and life together, except when he’s in the kitchen. For a school project, he’s forced to work with at least one other person and his kinda friends that he eats lunch with but doesn’t hang out with have shut him down. On a whim, he’s asks a girl from the popular crowd if they can work together. She says yes, through a bright red face and tears because her friends aren’t nice to her about her celiac. As Elliott and Maribel work together, they make mistakes, Elliott learns about his ADHD diagnosis, and tries to work hard on his project.

Setting:

Characters:
Elliott - 6th grader
Mark - Elliott’s dad, married to Kate who is pregnant
Maribel Martinez - Elliott’s partner

Recurring Themes: friendship, ADHD, cooking, confidence, celiac, divorce,

Controversial Issues: none

Personal Thoughts: captivating, honest, authentic and positive. Love the positive representation of divorce.

Genre: realistic fiction

Pacing: medium - lots of character development but not in a slow way
Characters: very well developed
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity: ( )

Schneider Family Book Award (Honor)

Sixth-grader Elliott lives with his mom most of the time, but visits his dad and Kate on the weekends. Since Elliott's best friend Malcolm moved away (for a year of home-schooling in a camper van), and transitioning into a new school, he's had a lot of trouble, partly due to his ADHD. He sees a therapist and has come up with some useful routines, but the only place he feels completely comfortable is in the kitchen. He has free rein at his mom's house, but his dad and Kate don't like him to cook at their house. How can Elliott show his dad how much cooking means to him? An opportunity arises when Elliott is paired with Maribel Martinez for the Avery Local competition, and they decide to make and sell pies. (Maribel, who has celiac disease, wants to be a businessperson, though her parents and the rest of their family are all doctors.) Elliott and Maribel's partnership encounters some bumps, but they make it through, and Elliott's relationship with his dad improves too (turns out Dad is seeing a therapist as well). A realistic depiction of a divorced but functional family and a tween both struggling with and embracing ADHD.

See also: Focused by Alyson Gerber, New From Here by Kelly Yang, Better With Butter by Victoria Piontek, From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks, Roll With It by Jamie Sumner

Recipes: Desperation Pie (258), Elliott's Crumble Crust (259)

Quotes

Too many things have changed this year, or are about to change. Every single thing in my life has gotten worse since Malcolm left, if really want to know the truth. (9)

Never underestimate the power of one person believing in you. (re: Ms. Choi, 68)

Here's one thing I wonder about a lot: Do most people think about what they're going to say before the words come out? And if so, how much - is the entire sentence formed inside their head? Or is it like it is for me, when the slightest spark of an idea can mean a whole bunch of words tumbling out like they have a mind of their own? (76)

When I was little someone read me that picture book about the mouse who wants a cookie but there's about a hundred things the mouse gets reminded of so he starts doing those things instead. It basically takes him the entire book to finally get the cookie. This is basically what my life is like, except usually there's no snack at the end. (85)

"Sometimes, people can be mean. Especially to people who are different." (Maribel, 121)

"Accidents happen to everyone."
Maybe it's the kind of thing that could happen to anyone, but mostly it feels like the kind of thing that's always happening to me. (Kate, 130)

"Sometimes things are worth doing even if they aren't easy. Especially if they aren't easy." (Mom, 175)

"Having more people in your life who love you is a good thing. Like Kate. And the baby." (Mom, 219)

"Just remember...Every family has good and bad. Theirs does - and yours does too. You can't compare your insides to someone else's outsides." (Mom, 220) ( )

Quite readable but I honestly found Elliott to be a bland, uninteresting character. We are told repeatedly that he has ADHD but he doesn't narrate like he does. (Maybe this would have been better if it were written in 3rd person?) I did enjoy his burgeoning friendship with Maribel (frankly she's a more interesting character than him) and with his stepmom but overall everything was pretty predictable and boilerplate-y.

Thank you to Bloomsbury who were kind enough to send me an advance copy of this book. ( )