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Sunday, November 19, 2023

The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman

Lowe, Mari. The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman
November 7, 2023 by Levine Querido
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Shaindy lives in a closeknit Orthodox Jewish community and attends a religious school, but has trouble connecting to her classmates and often feels awkward and lonely. She admires neighbor Gayil, who is bold, good at rollerblading, and has lots of friends. When Gayil has a secret she wants to share, Shaindy is intrigued and pleased. Gayil has found a key fob that lets the girls into the school building, and has a fun idea; she wants to go into the school and play small pranks that will be mysterious and take people's minds off the horror that is 6th grade. Nothing too bad, just things like putting slime into a girl's hairbrush. Shaindy is so pleased to have Gayil's attention that she agrees, although she doesn't feel great about the pranks. This is especially true when Rena's hair is practically shaved off after the prank with the slime. Rosh Hashanah is approaching, and the teacher, Morah Neuman, has the girls working on a Succos project, and there is a lot of discussion about the meaning of the holiday. Gayil goes on to switch everyones' notebooks in their lockers, which confuses people and is annoying, although one notebook does go missing. She also brings in a bee trap which lets bees out and causes chaos, especially since one girl is allergic. The girls manage to evade a teddy bear nanny cam in one classroom, and since the school doesn't have a surveillance system, manage to get away with all of their pranks. When bubble bath spilled on a floor almost ends in injuring another student, Shaindy wants to stop playing the pranks. Will this cause Gayil to stop being her friend? 
Strengths: Shaindy's plight is all too common in middle school; she feels pudgy and awkward, can't roller blade as well as her classmates, and just can't find anyone with whom to connect. She's glad to have the attention of the popular Gayil, even if she is actually dangerously unbalanced. Gayil always comes across as a "good girl", making her even more dangerous. There were some twists in this that I don't want to ruin, but it was certainly a great exploration of what children might do in order to have friends. The Orthodox Jewish represenation is interesting, especially in the small details about school and family life. This could have taken a much darker turn, stayed firmly in the realm of school and social drama stories rather than veering into the mystery genre like Benedis-Grab's I Know Your Secret
Weaknesses: The popularity of Heelys and rollerblading made this seem like it was set about 15 years ago, although this is never specifically mentioned. The scenes at school where the religious holidays were discussed where interesting and informative, but also slowed the story down. It's important to know about the different practices, but a little less detail would have made the story more engaging. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like stories like Soderberg's Sky Ropes or Arguelles's Flip Turns, or Eyre's The Mean Girl Meltdown where pranks play a pivotal role in the children's social challenges, or for collections that need Orthodox Jewish representation like that in this author's Aviva and the Dybbuk

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