Slingshot

December 1, 2020

Gr 9 Up-Lower-income white 15-year-old Grace Welles appears to be an exception at her third tier boarding school that caters primarily to upper-middle-class white students. However, dealing with class disparities is not one of the issues that fuels her anger. Her absent father, who has another family that does not know about her, loneliness, and her discomfort with herself drive most of her actions. From inappropriate crushes on teachers to shooting another student in the face with a slingshot, Grace's emotions bounce all over in the raw way that many teens experience, but she's so abrasive that it's hard to be sympathetic. The slingshot incident introduces Grace to Wade, who is almost too perfect for her, and it is inevitable that something will cause a rift between them. Luckily, supporting characters Beth, Anju, and Derek are charming. Beth brings a frank honesty to discussions about sex and love, though her advice isn't always spot on; Anju tries to break Grace out of her habit of coldly tearing others down; and bully Derek changes and grows throughout the story in ways that Grace doesn't. Beth is white, Anju is Indian American, and Wade and Derek's ethnicity isn't stated. VERDICT While this novel will resonate with certain readers, it is full of tropes and recommended as a secondary purchase for libraries where books centered on teen angst do well.-Claire Covington, Broadway H.S., VA

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 5, 2021
Dark-haired, blue-eyed, and pale-skinned Floridian sophomore Grace Welles, almost 16, is certain that her biology teacher, Mr. Sorrentino, is her soul mate, even though he’s both 20 years her senior and engaged. Firmly rejected by Mr. Sorrentino and subsequently disillusioned, heartbroken Gracie returns from holiday break to her “almost-but-not-quite-prestigious preparatory boarding school,” Midhurst. There, she can nearly forget her lovelorn 34-year-old mother, whom Gracie calls “delusional,” and her older absent father in Beverly Hills, for whom Gracie and her mother are a second, secret family. When she rescues new student Wade Scholfield from senior bullies using her childhood slingshot, her prickly loner life is upended. In patient, dark blue–eyed skateboarder Wade, Gracie finds a true friend who accepts her flaws—but, as their friendship gives way to mutual attraction, she soon falls into the chaos of love and lust. Through a contemporary narrative that feels curiously grounded in the 1990s, Helnwein frankly conveys the joy, fear, and awkwardness of an all-consuming first love, poignantly depicting Gracie’s growth: particularly the hard-won knowledge that she can exist “just by the sheer force of herself,” and the grace she learns to show herself and others. Ages 13–up.

Starred review from March 1, 2021
Gracie defends the new boy with her slingshot, marking the beginning of a transformative semester. Before winter break, sophomore Gracie Welles' heart is broken. Her biology teacher, Mr. Sorrentino, announces his engagement, destroying the illusion of a connection she's imagined. She leaves boarding school to visit her fantasy-prone mother. Her financially supportive but physically absent father has another family; they don't know about the existence of Gracie and her 34-year-old mom, and Gracie worries that someday she'll end up trapped in love purgatory like her mother. She brings her slingshot back to school with her, a comfort object from a difficult childhood. Soon she puts it to use: Witnessing some seniors ganging up on a new boy, she lets loose some very carefully aimed gravel. Gracie escapes with the victim, Wade Scholfield, and after some persistence on his part, they become friends. As they grow closer, Gracie pushes him away; she's terrified of being in love. But some things are inevitable, and Gracie finds herself on a rocky path toward realizing her feelings and growing into an entirely different person than the one once obsessed with her teacher. Gracie's a powerhouse: incredibly acerbic, prone to lashing out, and painfully relatable. She and Wade are magnetic together, but it's Gracie's carefully drawn growth that buoys her story into one that is truly memorable. All major characters are White. Wildly real and bursting with all the romance and pain of coming into oneself. (Romance. 14-18)

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Starred review from April 1, 2021
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Gracie has never known healthy love--not from her dad, who lives across the country with his second family; not from her mom, who waits on him for scraps of love; and not from the biology teacher at Gracie's Florida boarding school, who shatters her delusion of their destined love. Thus Gracie slinks through her sophomore year in a determined state of bitter loneliness--until she meets Wade and finds a connection deeper than she thought possible. Before they admit their mutual love, though, she--in a confused exploration of her sexuality--loses her virginity to his nemesis. Only then do Gracie and Wade get together, madly in love, but when he inevitably learns her secret, their fairy-tale pairing implodes. Helnwein debuts in striking fashion, with a gritty romance steeped in the heightened emotions, coming-of-age confusion, angsty pretentiousness, and acerbic attitude of her white, 15-year-old, Smashing Pumpkins-obsessed, cigarette-smoking protagonist. The writing, especially the dialogue, is magnetic, honest, and brimming with caustic wit, and as Gracie makes a series of social, emotional, and sexual breakthroughs, she learns to trust others with her feelings. Before the end, the young couple reunites briefly as Gracie learns of Wade's troubled home life--readers should be cautioned about the descriptions of physical abuse--but it's too late to salvage their relationship, and a bittersweet finale puts a bow on this enrapturing take on the intense highs and lows of teenage love.

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