Rocky Road: Team Canteen #1 and The Long Way Around

Jahn, Amalie, Rocky Road (Team Canteen #1)

September 3, 2024 by Pixel+Ink
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

For several years, Tasha has snuck away from the end-of-season talent show at the Happy Hollow summer camp to eat ice cream in the freezer that is going to be thrown away the next day. This year, she has the company of three new friends, Claire, Billie, and Raelynn, who are all rising 8th graders. They've all struggled to find kindred spirits, and are glad to have each other. When Billie is almost caught by a counselor but manages not to be punished because he starts up a conversation with her about a pink boa that the group had found in a props box, the group decides that the boa must be magic, and vows to mail the boa around during the year to whomever needs its powers. There's some postage involved, especially to Billie who is in Canada, but it makes them all feel connected. We get to see each camper's school year during the course of the book, and the group has occasional group texts that are shared. 

Billie's father is very involved in his hockey career, as well of that of his older brother. Billie is not a huge fan of the sport, even though he is an excellent goalie, and wants to quit. When the advisor for the ice capades' Annie on Ice schedules rink time when one of Billie's practices was supposed to take place, he is enthralled with the production, and volunteers to be the set designer. In order to find time to do this, he tells his parents that he is helping with a hockey team for younger players. He has a great time, and when the skater playing Miss Hannigan breaks her wrist, Billie is asked to step in. He's thrilled, but worried about what his family might think. 

Claire returns home to the same difficult position she left before being a scholarship student at the camp; her mother is working as a full-time teacher and a part time clerk while attending grad school, since her father was injured in an accident and his disability has run out. When Claire needs new shoes, her mother takes her to Rag-o-Rama where she sees a pair of used, high end tennis shoes for $50. While she would love them, her mother gets a $10 pair of shoes instead, but the owner, Miss Birdie, offers to hire her so she can earn the shoes. On her way to the shop one day, she meets Sam, who is a big fan of the store, and the two refurbish discards together. After she works off the coast of the shoes, Claire earns money, and plans to use it for a retirement party for her mother, who is going to become a principal. The only problem? She has to do all of this without her father knowing, and she he finds her hidden money, she has to regroup. Will she be able to work with the school sewing group she's put together to make back the needed cash?

Tasha was excited to hear from her dads that there would be a new family member joining them when she gets home, but rather than the dog she expects, she is greeted by her cousin Jillian, who is in fifth grade. Jillian's mother has died after being "sick" for a long time, the dads are very solicitous of Jillian and her terror of a dog, Mortimer. Tasha starts to feel like her dads prefer Jillian to her, and she's angry when Mortimer destroys her poetry journal. When Mortimer destroys the family's Christmas presents and Jillian runs away, Tasha is worried, and goes to find her. The two start to work together, and take Mortimer to behavioral classes. The teacher's son, Gavin, has been giving Jillian a hard time, calling her "Killian Jillian", so Tasha tries to find a way to get back at him so he leaves Jillian alone. She also submits her poem to a children's literature magazine and waits eagerly to hear its fate. 

Raelynn struggles to deal with herr twin, Baylee, upon her return home. They aren't identical, and Baylee is the more mature, traditionally pretty one. Realynn is shy, and very into videogames, but when other players in the game she likes identify her, she is appalled that people know who she really is. One of the other players is Jamal, who comes to her defense when kids at school are mean to her. Raelynn is distraught when she thinks her sister is putting the moves on her crush. When Jamal asks her to the school dance, she would love to go, but it's on the same day as MegaCon. Since neither kid has bought tickets to either event, Raelynn asks Jamal to go to MegaCon, and he says yes. 

This was a fun look at a group of kids who have trouble fitting in, and find great comfort in being supported by friends. The boa isn't magical, but just the thought that it is empowers the kids to take chances and to try new activities and make connections with people. I had a few quibbles (Billie would have needed a permission slip and medical emergency form to be in the Annie on Ice production; Claire's mother wouldn't have retired from teaching after twenty years, she would have just gone on to be a principal so the party seemed odd), but this was a fun look at a group of kids trying out new things and finally feeling like they belong. This is a great choice for readers who enjoyed the drama, friendship, and activities in Arno's Molly in the Middle, Sumner's One Kid's Trash, or Libenson's Positively Izzy 

Random note: My own children, who were dressed entirely from the thrift store their whole lives, were aghast that Claire would consider $50 shoes, especially since for $10, you could pick up brand new shoes at Target on clearance, and for $3, you could get a decent pair of used ones at the thrift store. I did splurge when they ran cross country and got them $30 Asics at Kohls, because foot health is important! 

Nesbet, Anne. The Long Way Around 

September 10, 2024 by Candlewick Press

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Sisters Amy and Vivian, with their mother Judy, and their cousin Owen, and his father Mike, are all set for a hiking trip in Sequoia National Park. Amy, who is 8, is less thrilled with the hiking aspect than the other two (who are 11 and 12), but they are all looking forward to being out in nature, cooking over a campfire, and being together. Their first day goes well, and the kids get the chance to cook their own dinner and put up their tent a bit of a distance from the parents. When there is an earthquake in the middle of the night, the children are separated from their parents. Owen calculates how much food they have, and they figure out on the map where they need to go. It is, of course, the long way around because of damage on the trail. Amy isn't thrilled with the idea, and wants to stay put and wait to be rescued. The group runs in to problems endemic with back woods hiking, like seeing a bear, and falling in a stream, but make steady progress. Amy sees a golden bear several times, and thinks that it is magical bear. Owen is dealing with the emotional trauma of having been in a car accident with his friend Mateo, and seeing Mateo struggle with amnesia that is so bad that he doesn't remember Owen, and Viv is very worried about starting middle school, so at the end of the day when the hiking is done, these issues are often explored. The children take an unmaintained trail to save time, and run into some problems with that, including finding a man with a broken ankle who needs their help. Luckily, they aren't too far from a populated camping area, but the trail to it has been damaged. The kids decide to use the trail anyway, and are soon helped and reunited with their parents. 

Strengths: This starts with a helpful map showing where the children walked, and is based on the experiences of the author, which gives the story a lot of great details about what it is like to hike in the wilderness. It's good to see cousins who are friends, and I loved that aside from Amy, they didn't really complain very much; they just figured out what need to be done, and did it. This is on trend for discussions of children dealing with trauma as well. This is a bit of a break from Nesbet's historical fiction titles like The Orphan Band of Springdale, Cloud and Wallfish, and Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen, and she clearly has a love for the great outdoors! 
Weaknesses: The children seem a bit too unconcerned about what has happened to Just and Mike; when they finally meet a ranger, they don't even ask about them for quite some time. It also seemed highly unlikely that the ranger would have let the group hike to their parents after so many resources were used trying to find them. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoy outdoor adventures like Behren's Alone in the Woods, Lang's Out of Range, and Downing's Just Keep Walking.