Maybe It's a Sign

Shen, E.L. Maybe It's a Sign
January 23, 2024 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Freya June Sun had a very close relationship with her mother, a college professor, her father, an accountant, and her old sister, May. After her father's death eight months previously from a heart attack, she finds herself missing him tremendously and looking for signs from him at every turn. He shared many traditional Chinese superstitions with her, and was also tremendously involved with her musical career playing the viola. The big problem right now is that Freya doesn't really want to play the viola anymore. She is supposed to audition for a larger orchestra, but has so much anxiety about performing that she really doesn't want to. When she is on her way to her school concert to play a solo, she sees it as a sign that she should quit when her family is running late and May wears a white head band (white being the color of death), but then she sees a pair of cardinals, which are a lucky sign. She tries to keep on, even when Gus Choi spills a milkshake all over her concert dress after the performance. Gus is irritating, but when the two are partnered in home ec for a final project that includes preparing a three course meal, she starts to see the sweet side of his personality. She also finds that she very much enjoys baking, and finds it calming. In addition to dealing with her ongoing grief, she has to deal with her sister leaving the house in the middle of the night, her two best friends being obsessed with grades and boys, and worries about the family finances that she overhears her grandparents discussing. When a baking competition is scheduled for the same day as the orchestra try outs, how will she decide which path she should take when there isn't a sign from her father. 

Strengths: I was somewhat superstitious as a tween, and Freya's magical thinking rings true. After all, if I walk to work in the snow and fully reassemble, down to lipstick, it means we will have a snow day, because I have that sort of control over the universe. Looking for a sign as a way to handle grief is certainly something that many people do. Her conflicting interests between cooking and viola will speak to readers who are themselves torn between choices their parents make for them and what they really want to do. The best part of this, for me, was the sweet friendship between Gus and Freya that was considerate and supportive, and culminates in a sweet kiss on the cheek that Gus asks about before he does. Also, Gus was a spectacular cook! 
Weaknesses: Considering the fact that church aunties had told Freya's mom to get her into grief counseling, it was suprising that her mother had not done this. I was shocked that the school still had TWO cooking labs, since ours has been a faculty lounge for twenty years, but life on the east coast is different in many ways, and I was glad to see a home ec class still in existence. (See Fry's Undercover Chef for a good use of abandoned food labs!)

What I really think: This had many similarities to Karen Chow's Miracle and is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Langley's The Order of Things or Polak's For the Record.