It's
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
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at
and #IMWAYR day
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January 14, 2025 by HarperCollins
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Ajay (pronounced AH jay) Anthonipillai is bound and determined to win the Student of the Year award for his 8th grade year, even if his life has some difficulties. His Amma is studying accounting at the community center but also strictly supervises him and his sister, Aarthi, who also attends his school. His father was an engineer in Sri Lanka, but because his degree isn't accepted in the US, worked for a time in a convenience store, and is now getting a masters degree. The family can't afford to live in the city, so are in a smaller town where there are very few students of color. He's recently gotten a bad grade (according to the family rules, anything less than a 90% is "bad") on a language arts poem project, and his teacher, Mrs. Livingston, isn't all that helpful when it comes to telling him what he needs to do to improve. On top of it all, he made an enemy of Jacob Underson over a trivial matter, and now the boy bullies him mercilessly. Even though Jacob's family is wealthy, he frequently steals chocolate bars from "Scary Al's" convenience store across from the school. Having been at work with his father when someone tried to rob the convenience store he was running, Ajay knows that some people steal because they have to, but has no sympathy for Jacob. When Jacob asks Ajay to get him a chocolate bar, Ajay thinks that if he does, it might stop the boy from giving him a hard time. He successfully lifts a bar, but when Jacob found out that Ajay put the food into his pants, he no longer wants it. Frustrated, Ajay eats the chocolate, only to find that it contains the winning ticket for the Mercury Mazoo contest. The prize? A million dollars. The problem? The prize has to be redeemed at the store where the candy was purchased. All too late, Ajay starts to worry that his theft was caught on camera, and starts to obsessively worry. This isn't unfounded; his cousin Ricky got in a fight, and the family's reaction is to send him to a boarding school back in Sri Lanka! Feeling horrible, Ajay tells the owner, Al, that he would like to work in the store. When Al tells him that he needs permission from a parent, Ajay offers to work for free. Since extracurriculars are discouraged by the Anthonipillais, Ajay makes up a debate club and claims it will be good for his college applications. He is allowed to go to karate lessons, and his parents reluctantly agree. Ajay also wants to get downtown to scope out other places where he could claim to have bought the candy, and classmate Mindy Yu is the answer to that problem. The two are working together on a project, and Mindy's brother often drives her to wait for her parents in a coffee shop across from their office. Mindy likes to read Nancy Drew books, and Ajay is a Hardy Boys fan, and the two are fond of each other. Ajay tries to deal with his guilt (the family attends the Catholic church and are very devout), attempts to find a way to erase any video footage, and keep his grades up. He comes to enjoy working with Al, and even makes some suggestions that improve the business, but can't figure out the security camera. After Jacob tries to steal Ajay's wallet, which contains the winning ticket, the two get in a fight and are made to work together on a project, which leads them both to have a better understanding of the other. When Al has a heart attack, Ajay's carefully constructed plans crumble, and he decides to come clean to his parents. Will the family find a way to figure everything out?
Strenghths: There are a decent number of students at my school who seem to think doing homework is optional, which I just can't get my head around, so seeing Ajay want to understand and improve his 79% was a welcome change! There's a lot going on in Ajay's world, but he is trying to do the right thing in all aspects of his life, with very little help. He knows the rules, and doesn't question most of them, but does chafe under some, especially when his parents are so inflexible. At the same time, he understands what his parents are sacrificing so that he and his sister can have a better life. Lying isn't ideal, but it gives him the opportunity to try to make things right with Al, and lets him spend more time with Mindy. I loved that his sister adopted the same strategy and made up a club so that she could hang out at a friend's house. It is also good to see that in the end, the parents aren't inflexible, and Ajay is able to work things out with them. Jacob is somewhat understood and redeemed, there's a nice light romance with Mindy, and I loved Al's store as well as his story. There's definitely a feel good ending after an entire book of white knuckle tension, and that was VERY welcome. This was quite the page turner!
Weaknesses: This made me SO anxious the whole time I was reading it, which just shows how good the writing was, but it was not a good feeling! I thought of a dozen different ways that Ajay would have been able to claim the prize, and it was frustrating when he didn't take any of my advice!
What I really think: It's tempting to compare this with other money winning books like McAnulty's Millionaires for a Month, West's Lucky in Love, or Haworth's A Whole Lot of Lucky, it's not really about the money. It's more a story of navigating the world in a different way that one's parents wish, like Rigaud's Simone Breaks All the Rules , Nicole Chen's It's Boba Time For Pearl Li, or Feldman's Wishing Upon the Same Stars, with a dash of Weeks and Varadarajan's Save Me a Seat.
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