Braced

*Starred Review* Rachel's life is going really well. She's 12 and totally crushing it on the soccer field (which means more time with her best-friend teammates), and everyone agrees that the ridiculously cute Tate is within days of asking her to be official BF/GF. All of that comes to a crashing halt when her Boston specialist reveals she has scoliosis. In fact, the curvature of her spine is so extreme that she'll have to wear a back brace a heavy hulk of white padded plastic stretching from armpits to tail bone for 23 hours a day. She tries to keep her spirits up but feels like a freak. Her soccer game plummets, and it seems like everyone even her friends and Tate are whispering in the halls. How can everything turn upside down so quickly? And where can she possibly find the strength to power through? Rachel's first-person narration relays her story in a surprisingly intimate, beautifully earnest voice, likely attributable to Gerber herself suffering from scoliosis and wearing a fitted brace in her formative years. Here she captures the preteen mindset so authentically that it's simultaneously delightful and painful. Every hallway whisper and direct insult will cut to the reader's heart, and the details about the process of wearing a brace in all its agonies and, yes, benefits are a natural and enlightening thread through the story. A masterfully constructed and highly empathetic debut about a different kind of acceptance.--Worthington, Becca Copyright 2017 Booklist

Gr 5-7-Gerber's debut novel tells the story of 12-year-old Rachel Brooks, who has scoliosis. At first this just meant a lot of annoying doctor's appointments, but the summer before seventh grade, Rachel is told that she must wear a bulky back brace for 23 hours a day in order to stop the progression of the curvature of her spine. Rachel also loves soccer. Wearing the brace is bad enough, but how will she keep her coveted spot on the soccer team when she'll have to learn how to play all over again with the brace? Friendships and loyalties are tested, but eventually everything is neatly resolved. One can't help but be reminded of Judy Blume's 1973 classic, Deenie. However, this novel falls a bit short of Blume's. The narrative plods along, reading like a (rather dull) account of Rachel's ordeal navigating soccer tryouts, friendships, family, and first love. Although readers will appreciate Rachel's determination and courage, it is hard to become fully engaged in the story. The overall plot is thin, and the secondary characters are not very well fleshed out, which may lead to a bit of apathy on the part of readers. VERDICT An additional purchase for libraries that are looking to bulk up their realistic fiction offerings for middle graders.-Megan Kilgallen, Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Rachel Brooks had been looking forward to seventh grade until her doctor prescribed a back brace for scoliosis. The rigid brace makes shopping for clothes terrible, threatens her role on the soccer team, and elicits cruel teasing (including the unfortunate name "Robo-Beast"); even her mother (who also had scoliosis) doesn't seem understanding. Rachel's struggle to fit in despite looking different is poignant and believable. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Braced : The door opens, and Jules is standing there holding my brace. "It was made just for you," she says, like that's a good thing. Only I'm looking right at it, so I know it's definitely not. The brace is so much bigger than the sample she showed me. It's huge and thick and bright white, with uneven layers of padding on the inside and ventilation holes scattered across the torso that make it look like a machine. I can tell right away that it isn't meant for just my back. On the right side, it goes all the way up to my armpit and dips far down below my underwear, covering part of my thigh. It's longer in the back than in the front, like it has a built-in tail. Fake plastic hips on both sides stick way out. I don't even have real hips yet. On the back, three Velcro straps as wide as my forearm rattle their metal clasps every time Jules moves. It's going to make me look wide and weird, like I swallowed a bathtub. Jules hands it to me. It's heavier than I expect, and I need both hands to hold it. It slips out of my fingers and crashes to the floor. "Rachel," Mom says. "You need to take care of your brace. It's important." "I didn't mean to drop it," I say. "I'm sorry." She shakes her head. "Why don't we give it a try?" Jules asks, picking the brace up off the floor. I bite down on my lip and do my best not to look directly at it. It's going to be fine. It has to be. Excerpted from Braced by Alyson Gerber All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.