May 7th 2019 by Balzer & Bray/Harperteen
ARC from Follett First Look
Jaime attend the same school as Positively Izzy and Invisible Emmie. She hangs out with her best friend, Maya, as well as Celia and Grace. On the last day of school, however, both Maya and Jaime are so worried about their relationship that they can't even enjoy field day. Jaime can tell that Maya is not happy with her, mainly because Celia is a nasty tween, and Grace goes along with her. Maya is being pressured by the other girls to tell Jaime that they won't hang out with her any more, and eventually sends her a series of texts telling her that she is far too babyish for them. Jaime is very upset, and bursts into tears at the end of Madame Z's class, and her teacher is very understanding, giving her a water bottle and telling her she can stop by the room again if she needs to. Jaime is fairly lucky that she has another friend (and possible crush) in Anthony, and some of his friends are more than happy to hang out with Jaime at school. There's a lot of drama, and the book covers it from both Jaime's and Maya's perspective. Maya isn't treated very well by Celia, and starts to wonder if the popularity is worth the mistreatment she suffers, and if she will eventually end up in Jaime's position. In the end, everyone, including Madame Z, is able to make some peace with their friendships.
Strengths: Jaime's story is told in notebook novel fashion, with a hand drawn style font and several illustrations on each page. Maya's is told in comic strips. There's tween angst all over the place. This will make it immediately appealing to my 6th and 7th graders.
Weaknesses: Isn't Jaime a boys' name pronounce HI-may? The girls I know all spell it Jamie. Students won't notice (They think Lois is a boy's name. Sigh.), but this bothered me.
What I really think: I'll definitely purchase, because the friend drama combined with copious pictures will make sure that this is never on the shelf, but even as a middle school student, I had no patience for drama. My best friend from 6th grade, Jenny, stopped talking to me over the summer and wouldn't even look at me in 7th grade, but I never even asked her what went on. (I was a super weird kid, so it's not really shocking that she didn't want to hang around me.) I just made new friends rather than have a confrontation.
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