That's What Friends Do

September 15, 2019
A careful introduction to consent and sexual harassment for a middle-grade audience. Sammie Goldstein and David Fischer have been best friends since forever, but lately David has realized that he has a crush on Sammie, and he's nervous about telling her. When Luke Sullivan, an extremely cool new kid, moves to New Roque, the New York City suburb where they live, David sees him as immediate competition. But all Sammie wants is to continue being friends with David, to keep her spot on the baseball team (she thinks that softball is for girls and that anything for girls must be inferior), and to avoid a romantic entanglement with the obnoxiously aggressive Luke. When David accidentally touches Sammie's chest, their friendship begins to unravel fast, but Sammie discovers a newfound camaraderie with the girls she had always dismissed as being too, well, girly. Told in the rapidly alternating perspectives of the two white Jewish young people, the plot drags a bit in the middle as the two stumble painfully through constant failures to communicate; the antagonist, who embodies the worst of coercive male attitudes toward girls and women, is not given similar interiority or growth. These flaws aside, the middle grades need more books that address both the ways that misogyny and rape culture surface at that age and how it's hard but necessary to get the help you need. A worthy, timely, ambitious debut. (Fiction. 8-12)

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December 1, 2019

Gr 5-7-David has decided to reveal his romantic feelings for longtime best friend Samantha-but he senses competition when Luke moves to town, and things get complicated. David leans in to kiss Sammie on the bus in an attempt to challenge Luke's advances; but the bus's motion leads to David accidentally touching Sammie inappropriately, and their friendship suffers. The book alternates between David's and Sammie's viewpoints as both make miscalculations about the incident. David is embarrassed and wants the issue to disappear, and Sammie doesn't speak up about how uncomfortable it made her. Ultimately, their failure to be honest about their feelings causes pain for David, Sammie, and Luke, but their time apart also provides opportunities for them to reassess their friendship and their interests. David would rather be in the art club than on the baseball team. Sammie considers playing softball, a sport she had always considered too girlish. Ultimately, both Sammie and David learn to be honest about what happened on the bus and who they are becoming, with a resolution that feels realistic and age appropriate. VERDICT Readers who are beginning to navigate more complicated emotions and personal boundaries will appreciate this story which deftly handles sensitive topics like inappropriate touching and body autonomy.-Shelley Sommer, Inly School, Scituate, MA

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