MMGM- What If You Fall For Me First?

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Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
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Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

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Unleashing Readers

Miller, G. F. What If You Fall For Me First?

June 10, 2025 by Aladdin
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus 

Sofia Santini is tired of being thought of as cute; it's hard being a tiny 8th grader who looks like an elementary school student, especially when your clothes look like they come from the "girls 4-8 department of J.C. Penney's" because your grandmother buys them. It'seven harder when you have a crush on someone like Mark Chen, who is cute and cool. Sofia also likes Mark because he was nice to hear when they were science partners, so when she sees him hanging out with Ashlyn, a "fierce" volleyball player, at the school dance, she's crushed. She takes her frustration outside, where there's some screaming and throwing of things... which is witnessed by the very cool Holden. He's wealthy, working on his social media following, and also rather a jerk. Sofia knows this because he dated one of her friends, and things didn't go well. Holden is surprisingly understanding and kind, though, and honest with Sofia about how she comes across to others. Sofia asks for his help in trying to become fierce. Holden tells her she is fine the way she is (except that she should stop apologizing all the time), but is willing to help her with a "glow up" if it helps him to gain followers and the attention of social media star Igo Big. Sofia's single mother works hard as a yoga instructor and Uber driver, and struggles financially, but is always there for Sofia, but doesn't understand Sofia's need to navigate middle school differently. Holden offers to cut and color Sofia's hair, and is glad to spend the money that his divorced parents fling at him to pay for supplies. It comes out surprisingly well, and makes Sofia feel better about herself. Holden is pleased with her honest reactions and thanks, and teaches her how to take a compliment without deflecting or apologizing. Sofia's friends warn her against them, but since Destiny, Nina, and Eve (from Not if You Break Up With Me First) all were involved in a scuffle at the dance and have been spending time in In School Suspension and after school detention, she is seeing more of Holden than she sees of them. The scuffle involved Eve and Andrew's break up, and the school is divided on whose side to take.

Sofia and Holden have their own middle school existences, but keep connecting in ways that make them both happy. Sofia adopts a skater girl style wardrobe on her own, and Holden feels oddly left out. He starts to date Tylee, who approaches him, but breaks up with her shortly afterwards. His family situation is not good; his father is remarried, and usually sends his wife to deal with Holden, while his mother is pregnant and has little time for him. Spending time with Sofia and her mother, eating home cooked meals and not having to pretend to be cool is a welcome break. Sofia creates a video to ask Mark to the Winter Clincher dance, and it gains her a lot of attention. He agrees to go with her, but he's also made a deal with Holden that he will be nice to Sofia as long as Holden pays him $10 a week! Mark has also been using Sofia to get help on his homework, and agreed to be lab partners with her in the first place because he knew she would do all of the work. Holden has struggled with Mark being a jerk because he realizes he "like likes" Sofia, who is beginning to realize that Mark isn't the boy she wants to be with.

Things come to a crisis when Mark comes clean, and Sofia and Holden have to reassess not only their relationship, but also their own identities. Sofia prefers being "fierce", but doesn't like all aspects of being cool, since her mother has instilled in her the need to be nice. Holden realizes that his social media following doesn't really translate into real relationships, and that his tough guy, "skeezeball" facade isn't really working. He does have a little help when his stepfather finally sees that he needs support.

There are so many books about middle grade students navigating grief after the death of a loved one, but it is so much more common for them to need help navigating personal relationships and struggles with identity. Middle school is all about finding out who you are and how you want to interact with everyone around you. As someone who was tiny and a "human Care Bear" like Sofia, I can attest that her frustrations are absolutely on point. Should she have spent the entire book obsessing about Mark, who was kind of a jerk? Absolutely not. But did I personally obsess over a bespectacled trumpet player who was in my youth group for... three or four years? Absolutely. Holden's bravado and cool kid persona at school, and even his "skeezeball" ways make perfect sense as a defense mechanism. Have I seen students with more money than they should have because of divorced parents? Unfortunately, yes. I did really appreciate the stepfather finally paying attention.

There is so much to unpack in this book, and so much drama. As an old person who has no patience for drama at all, I would have preferred this to be a little more streamlined, but the target demographic will be thrilled with all of the twists and turns this takes. I could also have done without some of the goofy teacher names, like Mrs. Schmekpepper, as well as her constant literary quotes, but the teachers are otherwise realistically portrayed. There also seemed to be a lot of dances.

I have hope for middle grade literature when I read titles like this. I can see it appealing to lots of students, and is in great company with 2025 releases like DeVillers' Meet Me at Wonderland, Shang's The Best Worst Summer of Esme Sun, and Reardon's Dad Rock Dragon Quest that showcase difficult family, friend, and romantic interest relationships, but give young readers examples of positive ways to navigate the ever changing landscape of adolescence.

Dickinson, Elizabeth Evitts. Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free 

June 17, 2025 by Simon & Schuster

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

I don't read a lot of adult books, but when I was invited to read this new title during Women's History Month, I couldn't decline! I'd heard of McCardell, since I read a lot of fashion history, but was surprised at how perfectly her life embodied everything that went on in the early twentieth century! 

Born in 1905, McCardell was a bit younger than my grandmother, which gave me good perspective. She was a very active child, and enthralled by her mother's wardrobe. I loved the depiction of families bringing in a seamstress to help with seasonal sewing. We have almost entirely forgotten as a society that ready to wear clothing wasn't always available. Even in the 1980s, I was making a lot of clothing for both my mother and myself! Also fascinating was the fact that while McCardell's parents were very invested in the idea that she would go to college, she wasn't interested in the local Hood College that her father helped found. She wanted to go to what was to become Parsons School of Design, then in its infancy. From there, she studied in Paris, and then had the most amazing career in the New York grament industry, holding a wide variety of roles at a time when women had to fight very hard to make their way in any field. 

This touched on her private life just enough; we see her romantic relationship factually presented as a factor in her career, which I appreciated. We also see a few friendships, and her family, in the same way, making this a great career biography. I do wish there had been some pictures; maybe in the final version there will be. It would have been nice to see the people in her life, and its essential to see the fashions she created, but of course those are easy enough to look up online. 

There is a mention of home economics, and how it was a back door for women to get into science and many other fields. Of course, McCardell had to study this field. I highly recommend Dreilinger's The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live if you are interested in women's history. 

A young readers version of this (slightly shorter, with a lot of pictures) would be fantastic, as would a similar biography of the amazing Edith Head, who is mentioned briefly. I won't be buying this for my middle school library, but I sort of want a copy for myself, mainly because McCardell's life story showcases the history of the early 1900s. It's just a shame that she died in 1958; how amazing would her designs in the 1960s and 70s have been?