September 9, 2025 by Pixel+Ink
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Harper and Luke and their two moms are neighbors with Sophie and Gus and their family in the small town of Valleyville. They live on the same street, and used to always walk back and forth to school together, calling themselves the Rowan Roadies. When their parents leave them alone while they attend a work party together, Harper has a great idea. She wants to make a video about characters, Lorgans, in the AfterLaunch video game they play. She’s interested in theater and social media, so comes up with costumes and a hilarious script. Even though she’s not supposed to, she posts the video on the Cre8 platform. Soon, it gets hundreds of thousands of views. She’s thrilled, but the other kids want her to take it down. Gus is more interested in soccer, although he also is excited to have been accepted into a writing camp. Luke, who is a bit socially awkward, doesn’t mind the video, because he would love to get into more of the editing software. Sophie doesn’t quite get the appeal, and when a video of her falling (albeit in costume) gets a lot of views, she wants Harper to take it down. When Cre8 announces a contest with a large cash prize, the group tries to keep posting, but it takes a lot of work to create content. When Sophie realizes that they will do better at the contest if they are true to themselves and have fun, rather than try to capture the vagaries of an algorithm, she gets permission to film at a house at the end of their street, the Black Hole house, that looks like a Lorgan spaceship and has been a subject of curiosity in the town. THe kids also have to help put together a neighborhood block party and keep up with their schoolwork. Is social media fame worth all of the effort? This is the first book in a purported series.
Strengths: The idea of neighborhood friends who have fallen out of sync but who band together when a video they make goes viral is a fun one. I love that the author really thought through several aspects of this in a realistic way: middle school kids are rarely left to fend for themselves, but having the four kids together allows the parents to go out. Harper isn’t supposed to have social media, but of course she does. There are other realistic touches, like Luke’s anxiety and the scuffle over taking down the video of Sophie falling. I’m curious to see what the further adventures of the Rowan Roadies will bring.
Weaknesses: It seems unlikely that a video of characters in a video game would get so many hits, but I did appreciate that the book pointed out how time consuming and difficult it is to create content.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like somewhat goofy and unlikely adventures like Malone’s The Sleepover or Calabrese’s Wild Ride, or books about children creating video content like Markell’s The Final Cut or Kendrick’s Instafamous.
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