This short sports/legal-related narrative told in mixed media format was just fine. To do justice to all of the topics that the author brought up in this book, he would’ve needed at least 50 more pages minimum to give them the attention they deserved. Unfortunately, the author condensed days, weeks, and months into a very short timeframe and did not allow the main character enough time to actually learn the lessons that the author intended for him to learn. I think this was an OK narrative that might interest some middle school students but not many.
It has been quite a while since I read Bloor’s much more well-known novel, Tangerine. I don’t think that it’s necessary to read that first book, although it would provide more context for this narrative. There’s a bit of absurdity inherent in this particular setting that the reader would gain context for by reading that other book, but apart from that this book stands fairly well enough on its own. That being said, I did not particularly enjoy this book although I did not mind the narrative. It did not really have a coherent structure to the plot and did not really have a strong connection with the title. Since many middle schoolers may be familiar with the first book since it is often taught, or at least was often taught in previous years, some middle school students may enjoy this breed. Overall, though, I would not go out of my way to put this in my classroom library.
I think that the author did a really good job exploring the ramifications of a parent with a chronic illness or injury. The mom’s particular diagnosis is not shared, but that makes sense given the age of the narrator. The narrator likely would not have known some of the details, although they would be very clear on how it affects their mother and themselves. In this book, the mom needs to have another surgery. Since the recovery will take longer and would require the dedicated help of the Mom‘s partner, Chris and her sister are sent to stay for six weeks at their grandparents house. On top of the issues arising from the mom‘s medical issues, Chris, the main character, is also dealing with what that will mean for her plans with her best friend, her only friend, while dealing with her annoying little sister. Even though the reveal about the titular new friend felt a little bit out of left field, it ends up, making sense and helping the main character grow. I would definitely put this in my classroom library.
Once again, failing to read the synopsis, set up my expectations in a way that cast more disappointment on this book then it should have. Based on the title, I expected a contemporary story with perhaps some sort of issue in the family like a divorce or death or something of that nature. That is not this story, even though death does play a part. This story is a middle grade cozy mystery. The cranky neighbor is found dead and the main character and his friends, take it upon themselves to try to solve the case. I know that these sorts of cozy mysteries, especially at the middle grade level, require a suspension of disbelief as to how these sorts of investigations normally go. However, I was not able to make my suspension of disbelief go quite far enough, which made this particular mystery a little bit disappointing. That being said, I think that my abilities to suspend my disbelief is much different than a middle school student, a.k.a., the target audience, so I think that middle school students would enjoy this book more than I did. Since the mystery section in my classroom library is smaller than I would prefer, I have no hesitation in adding this particular book.
Even though I have read a previous book from Jodi Meadows, the distance between my reading of that book and reading this particular book was a little bit too long for me to make, in my opinion, a valid comparison. From my memory though, I think I enjoyed Bye Forever I Guess more than this book. I think, though, that Jodi Meadows did a really good job exploring the dynamics of a group chat for middle schoolers very well. Speaking as a middle grade teacher, I can attest that the majority of the drama that get started in middle schools comes from group chats on various platforms. I think that Meadows did a really good job describing how this drama might’ve gotten started and how it might resolve. I definitely recommend this book for middle school students.
This book had a lot of promise, but I reached the end feeling dissatisfied with how the author chose to resolve the major problem. The resolution felt too picture perfect for the issues that were discussed in this particular novel. I liked the idea of the perhaps magical pencil, and the ramifications of what that could do when wielded by the hand of a middle grade age girl since the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed. I cannot put my finger exactly on why this book felt disappointing, which is frustrating when writing a review. I just know that at the end of the narrative, I felt a little bit disappointed. I think that middle school students may still enjoy it, but I would not go out of my way to add it to my classroom library.
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