May 5, 2026 by Random House Books for Young Reader
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Calla Howard has supportive parents in her mother, an attorney, and her father, and accountant, and even gets along with her older brother, Josiah, who is a track star. She has two best friends, Jacoby and Charlee, and enjoys her classes at her Charlotte, North Carolina middle school, which has had a large investment of money and a new technology focus. At the end of the year, she is surprised to hear that her favorite teacher, Mr. Chavis, supposedly sexually harassed girls at his previous school in Raleigh. This has been posted on the EboniiNews site, and has everyone talking. The comments on the site are often unkind to the girls who made the accusations. Calla is really torn. She hasn't had any problems with Mr. Chavis, but she thinks the girls deserve to be heard. When a cease and desist order from Mr. Chavis' lawyer causes the EboniiNews site to take down the posts, Charlee thinks that they should put the information on the school's "safe" social media site, Connective. Again, Calla isn't sure what to think, but goes along with it. Her brother's girlfriend, Emery, talks about how everyone deserves to be heard, and her comments help the posts go viral. Soon, Listen to the Girls becomes a place for people to discuss topics they have been keeping to themselves, and people find it useful. Calla, however, starts to think more and more about her own interactions with Mr. Chavis, and as she learns more about how predators groom their victims, realizes that it's very similar to her interactions with "Chav". Her parents have her working at her father's office, going through applications that small businesses have sent in to apply for accounting help, and EboniiNews is one of the applicants. Calla feels emboldened after talking to the owner, and comes up with a plan. She is smart enough to go to her parents with the information first, and shares a letter with them that she wants to send to the local school board after the police investigation determines that while Mr. Chavis' might have engaged in inappropriate grooming behavior, his actions never crossed over the line into criminal behavior. Her parents help her with the process and support her as she deals with the aftermath of her experiences.
Strengths: Giles does an impressive job of showing both sides of this issue, which wasn't an easy thing to do. I very much appreciated that Calla had involved parents, and loved that her brother and his girlfriend would occasionally hang out with Calla. There are some great scenes of family life with meals and even a vacation. I'd love to see a lot more of that in middle grade fiction. Jacoby and Charlee are good friends who are much more interested in social media than Calla is. The slow realization that Calla has about her interactions with Mr. Chavis are completely believable, and will be very instructive to middle school readers. Giles, who also wrote Take Back the Block and Not an Easy Win, does a great job at tackling complex social issues in a way that middle grade readers can understand and learn from.
Weaknesses: It's not a weakness of the book, but I wish that all educators were more careful with how they interact with students so that no students ever feel uncomfortable. Giles cites a statistic that 80% of students report some form of harassment in school; I assume this includes interactions with other students as well. That's horrible. As an educator, this is a hard book to read. While I have, unfortunately, seen instances where teachers and coaches acted inappropriately, and were fired for it, I've also seen situations where students lied and innocent teachers almost lost their jobs.
Weaknesses: It's not a weakness of the book, but I wish that all educators were more careful with how they interact with students so that no students ever feel uncomfortable. Giles cites a statistic that 80% of students report some form of harassment in school; I assume this includes interactions with other students as well. That's horrible. As an educator, this is a hard book to read. While I have, unfortunately, seen instances where teachers and coaches acted inappropriately, and were fired for it, I've also seen situations where students lied and innocent teachers almost lost their jobs.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who were intrigued by Bradley's Fighting Words, Carter's How to Be a Girl in the World, or Booth's Caprice.
May 12, 2026 by Random House Studio
Copy provided by the publisher
Bea has had a much better year in seventh grade, and is willingly returning to Camp Chordata, where she is excited to hang out with Virginia and Roxy. Bea has changed quite a lot over the year; she has started to pay more attention to what she wears, to put on makeup, and to save her conversations with her stuffed rabbit, Roger, for nighttime instead of taking him to school. This has boosted her self confidence and helped her make friends, but her "old" self keeps haunting her. Owen, whom she met at camp last year, is staying at home to work as a lifeguard, signs her yearbook at the end of school and references Roger, and Virginia is downright angry that Bea has changed. The change was a good thing in Bea's mind, but she finds herself having to justify not being the introverted, quirky girl she used to be. The camp is short staffed, and their counselor, Flower, leaves them to their own devices a lot while she deals with younger campers. The girls do little but fight, and Bea finally decides to call her father. He comes and picks her up, and Virginia and Roxy are devastated. They manage to free their cell phones from the camp office, call an older brother, and show up on Bea's doorstep. The three finally talk and work out their differences, and managed to talk Bea's father into driving them back to camp so they can enjoy the rest of their week.
Strengths: Like the first book, Camp Frenemies, this is a good look at the way that short term friendships and different settings like camp can change who middle schoolers are as people. I was glad to see that Bea was able to rely less heavily on her stuffed animals, and paid a little bit of attention to what other students her age were doing, and was able to adapt and make friends. A lot of adults seem to think it's okay for kids to "be themselves" and wear cat ears and tails in seventh grade, but the savvy tween will tell you that is absolutely not the case. My daughters paid close attention to what their peers were doing, and we consulted about how they could dress like themselves but still fit in. The fact that Virginia is annoyed is also realistic, because it's hard to see friends change.
Weaknesses: Did we miss a year? I thought at the end of the first book, Bea was going into sixth grade, but now she's going into 8th. A lot of this book was just headshots of the characters with text of them talking; I don't remember the first book being set up this way rather than having standard graphic novel panels.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked summer camp based graphic novels like Smith, Tanner, and Gomez's Absolute Zeros: Camp Launchpad, Miller's Stuck, Phillips' The Ghost in Cabin 13, and Messner's Camp Monster.
Weaknesses: Did we miss a year? I thought at the end of the first book, Bea was going into sixth grade, but now she's going into 8th. A lot of this book was just headshots of the characters with text of them talking; I don't remember the first book being set up this way rather than having standard graphic novel panels.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked summer camp based graphic novels like Smith, Tanner, and Gomez's Absolute Zeros: Camp Launchpad, Miller's Stuck, Phillips' The Ghost in Cabin 13, and Messner's Camp Monster.
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