Review | Swing by Audrey Meeker

January 16, 2025January 15, 2025 DeAnneLeave a comment

Debut author/illustrator Audrey Meeker playfully explores complicated friendships, gender norms, and navigating other people’s expectations in this charming middle grade graphic novel.

Marcus McCalister wants to fit in. So much so that he’s still playing on a soccer team with his childhood friend Ted, despite not liking soccer—or Ted—all that much.

Izzy Briggs wants to stand out. Being labeled the “weird kid” for her bold fashion choices is the price an aspiring designer must pay for a life of greatness—but being confident isn’t always easy.

So when Izzy and Marcus are paired together to perform a swing dance routine for a gym project, it’s no surprise that everything goes up in flames, including their grade in the class. Until their gym teacher proposes a if the pair performs the swing routine in the upcoming talent show, they’ll receive extra credit and a passing grade. They accept. . . but Izzy has her own proposal for this time, she gets to be the lead.

Oof, eighth grade – I think a lot of people can identify with how formative and hard of a year it can be. This perfectly captured a number of the struggles that kids can face in middle/junior high school. From figuring out who they are and what they want to do despite pressures from family and friends, figuring out the things that truly inspire them and honestly finding out who your real friends are. Throughout the story Marcus and Izzy go through a lot of back and forth, mainly because of influence by outside forces such as the class bully – but watching them find their friendship, courage to speak up and navigating their new school year was a fun read. They did clash a lot, but they also were both dealing with a lot of pressure from family and expectations and finally found a path to understanding. Overall a lovely read that I think a lot of kids would see themselves in.

Happy reading!

Review | The Shape of Lost Things by Sarah Everett

January 15, 2025January 15, 2025 DeAnneLeave a comment

From the award-winning author of The Probability of Everything, which has been called “one of the best books I have read this year (maybe ever)” (Colby Sharp, Nerdy Book Club) and “Powerful” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review),comes a heartfelt exploration of family and change as twelve-year-old Skye reunites with her older brother, Finn, after he spent four years on the run with their father.

Skye Nickson’s world changed forever when her dad went on the run with her brother, Finn. It’s been four years without Finn’s jokes, four years without her father’s old soul music, and four years of Skye filling in as Rent-a-Finn on his MIA birthdays for their mom. Finn’s birthday is always difficult, but at least Skye has her best friends, Reece and Jax, to lean on, even if Reece has started acting too cool for them.

But this year is different because after Finn’s birthday, they get a call that he’s finally been found. Tall, quiet, and secretive, this Finn is nothing like the brother she grew up with. He keeps taking late-night phone calls and losing his new expensive gifts, and he doesn’t seem to remember any of their inside jokes or secrets.

As Skye tries to make sense of it all through the lens of her old Polaroid camera, she starts to wonder: Could this Finn be someone else entirely? And if everyone else has changed, does it mean that Skye has to change too?

Though this was a quick read, it was not a story to take lightly. There are a lot of very real and deep subjects tied into this story as Skye and Finn navigate getting to know each other again and all the struggles each of them face respectively. I could see a lot of kids that might be going through similar aspects of situations really identifying with this story and it’s important to have stories like this that a child can see themselves in. Perhaps they wouldn’t identify with being kidnapped by a parent, but they could definitely identify with the struggle of have separated families, or deal with parents that struggle with mental health.

Happy reading!

Review | Take It from the Top by Claire Swinarski

January 15, 2025 DeAnneLeave a comment

Set at a camp over the course of six summers, this novel dives into the falling-out of two girls from different backgrounds who thought they’d be friends forever. Claire Swinarski, regional indie bestseller of the ALA Notable What Happened to Rachel Riley?, tackles privilege, perspective, and the power of friendship in this page-turning puzzle that readers will devour.

Eowyn Becker has waited all year to attend her sixth summer at Lamplighter Lake Summer Camp. Here, she’s not in the shadow of her Broadway-star older brother; she’s a stellar performer in her own right. Here, the pain of her mom’s death can’t reach her, and she gets to reunite with her best friend, Jules Marrigan—the only person in the world who understands her.

But when she gets to camp, everything seems wrong. The best-friend reunion Eowyn had been dreaming of doesn’t go as planned. Jules will barely even look at Eowyn, let alone talk to her, and Eowyn has no idea why.

Well, maybe she does…

There are two sides to every story, and if you want to understand this one, you’ll need to hear both. Told in a series of alternating chapters that dip back to past summers, the girls’ story will soon reveal how Eowyn and Jules went from being best friends to fierce foils. Can they mend ways before the curtains close on what was supposed to be the best summer of their lives?

I haven’t read any of Claire Swinarski’s books before, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well crafted this story was. There was a definite emphasis on characters with a lot of depth and identity. This one is definitely on the younger side of YA since a lot of the characters are 13, so there are definitely age specific things and behaviors that are pretty present – which for the target age group is fantastic. It’s not all light topics though, there’s definitely some conflicts and tougher subjects such as losing a parent and grief, and how other people can be affected by the same events. Overall this story was really cute, with those slices of heavier topics, it was really well balanced and a fun read.

Happy reading!