Right Back At You

Mackler, Carolyn. Right Back At You

March 4, 2025 by Scholastic Press

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Mason lives in 2023, and Talia lives in 1987, but their bedroom closets become portals where they can exchange letters. Mason starts by writing to Albert Einstein as an assignment, but when Talia writes back, the two find their correspondence helpful in dealing with the challenges in their lives. For Mason, it's dealing with the fact that his father has taken a job in Atlanta and left him and his mother in New York City. Since his father coached him in baseball, Mason has quit playing, especially since the other coach was the father of a boy, Steele, who bullies him at school. For Talia, it's dealing with the fact that her best friend Lyra has become a "girly girl" and cheerleader, while Talia just wants to play baseball rather than softball, something that was more difficult to do over thirty years ago. Lyra, who is Jewish, also has to deal with Ed and Kevin's antisemitic bullying, which all of her teachers brush off as "boys will be boys". There's also a lot of discussion about the differences in culture between the years; Talia doesn't know what "googling" means. The two set up rules about what they should share, but break them often, with Mason giving Talia baseball scores so she can win  bets with her brother and get out of household chores. Mason's mother is not dealing well with the separation, and has been drinking more than is healthy, and also isn't paying attention to Mason, sending him to school in the same clothes, which makes him more of a target for Steele. With each other's help, the two pen pals manage to find the courage they need to speak up and help their own situations. A family connection is discovered, and at the end, there's a nice twist about how Talia manages to help Mason out in her future. 

Strengths: I'm finding the  number of authors who are delving into the world of their own middle school experiences in the late 1980s and early 1990s interesting, and just wish that there had been more books looking back at the 1970s! Mason and Talia are both rather isolated, so it is good that they have support from each other, even though they live years apart. The way that different social issues are addressed in the different decades are sometimes not as different as we might suspect (Talia suggests that Mason's mother needs help for her alcoholism, and Mason tells Talia about Title IX, and why her coach can't ban her from playing a "boys" sport). Talia's family is very supportive, and they even go to school to address the antisemitic incidents, even though they aren't dealt with properly until a Holocaust survivor visits the school. Mackler has already taken a look at this time period with her fantastic 2011 The Future of Us, but this gives the topic a more middle grade, 2024 spin. 
Weaknesses: This is a little slow paced and introspective, and I never felt that I really understand why Mason and Talia were able to communicate across the decades. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who appreciate a look at 1980s culture and were intrigued by the family problems in Eulberg's The Best Worst Summer or Papademetriou's Apartment 1986.