October 22, 2024 by Holiday House
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Ingrid lives in Virginia with her grandmother, an avid knitter, after the death of both her parents in a car accident. She's been friends with Rachel for a long time, but has started to think that Rachel's friendship isn't good for her. This is reinforced when Rachel keeps wanting her to admit to people at school that she runs the popular Scrollr (like Tumblr?) account, "Bye Forever, I Guess" that chronicles texting wrong number interchanges. When a new family moves nearby, Ingrid gets along with Alyx and Oliver, who are both in 8th grade with her even though they were born a year apart, but the relationship can't go any further when Rachel tells them both about her parents in a way that makes it seem like Ingrid is sad and lonely and reliant on Rachel's friendship. Ingrid cuts Rachel off, and when she gets a series of texts meant for someone named Rachel, the person who sends them submits the exchange to her Scrollr. This is awkward, but Ingrid enjoys texting back and forth with "Traveler". Her friend in Michigan, Lorren, plays an online game with her, having been vetted by her grandmother, and the two also enjoy a book series that is finally publishing a long awaited final book. Ingrid has a fair amount of friend drama at school, with Rachel being snarky, Alyx feeling hurt, and Oliver wanting to hang out, but is balancing this with a lot of texting and online gaming. When she finds that the author of the book series is coming to Viriginia, she is very excited, and even creates a handknitted hat for the author. Traveler is reading the books on her recommendation, and the two decide to meeting at the author event. In real life, there is even more drama with Oliver. Will Ingrid be able to reconcile her two lives when they happen to converge?
Strengths: Students really do spend this much time online, which I find alarming. Readers who are fans on online gaming or book fandoms will appreciate Ingrid's zeal for her interests, and also understand the various friend dramas that occurred. I enjoyed the light romance, which we need a lot more of in middle grade stories. There was something appealing about the book; the knitting grandmother, the mystery of Traveler's identity, and as always, the friend drama, which is nicely wrapped up at the end of the book.
Weaknesses: While I appreciated the author's notes that this was based on the large number of misdirected texts she has received, it was a little hard to believe that a middle school students would get this many and create a popular social media account with them. I thought it was readily apparent who Traveler was, but Ingrid seemed very surprised.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked Mancusi's Gamer Girl or Smith's This is What Happy Looks Like.
Strengths: Students really do spend this much time online, which I find alarming. Readers who are fans on online gaming or book fandoms will appreciate Ingrid's zeal for her interests, and also understand the various friend dramas that occurred. I enjoyed the light romance, which we need a lot more of in middle grade stories. There was something appealing about the book; the knitting grandmother, the mystery of Traveler's identity, and as always, the friend drama, which is nicely wrapped up at the end of the book.
Weaknesses: While I appreciated the author's notes that this was based on the large number of misdirected texts she has received, it was a little hard to believe that a middle school students would get this many and create a popular social media account with them. I thought it was readily apparent who Traveler was, but Ingrid seemed very surprised.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked Mancusi's Gamer Girl or Smith's This is What Happy Looks Like.
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