Review by Booklist Review
Twelve-year-old Kate is looking for a change as middle school starts, and then it comes in the form of an invite from the popular click, led by Taylor Tobitt, the "it" girl at school. When Kate is asked to join them at their lunch table, she suddenly has the chance to try out a different identity. Previous BFF Haddie doesn't understand the social politics in play and tries to join the group as well, with nearly deadly consequences. Thankfully, Kate intervenes and saves Haddie, but a video of the incident goes viral, suddenly making Kate a poster girl for antibullying. But is she really or was she part of the problem? Can Kate find the strength to do the right thing and come clean? Well written and on point, Swinarski's middle-grade take on the mean-girls novel will resonate with readers looking for a realistic story that doesn't gloss over choices or consequences, giving them complex ideas to contemplate.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 5--7--Seventh grade couldn't toss any more twists and turns at Kate McAllister. Her mother has left for Utah to try to move up the ladder in her multilevel marketing cosmetic company, leaving the girl with her police officer father. She and her childhood best friend, Haddie, have stopped hanging out since Kate became science lab partners with popular Taylor, who pulls Kate into a new group of cool friends. But when the new friend group focuses their teasing on Haddie with a game of keep-away that sends her falling through thin ice to retrieve her hat, Kate jumps to the rescue. The video Taylor films of Kate rescuing Haddie goes viral, and Kate is thrust into the media spotlight as the poster child for anti-bullying. Kate starts to question her role in what happened to Haddie and who her true friends are, eventually confronting whether she really is "Kate the Great." Swinarski adeptly presents multiple, and at times conflicting, sides of Kate in her struggle to figure out who she is and who she wants to be. Kate is cued as white. VERDICT With a well-developed protagonist, this book tackles bullying, friendship, and parental roles. For library collections seeking books covering issues of social media and social justice.--Rebekah Buchanan, Western Illinois Univ., Macomb, IL
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Review by Horn Book Review
"In this story, the one you're sitting down to read, I am the bad guy. Okay?" Kate had been best friends with the dorky, individualistic Haddie from first grade to seventh, when everything changed. Now -- missing her mom, who has essentially abandoned Kate in order to pursue True U Cosmetics success; ashamed of her dad's crumbling apartment building; and tired of sleeping on the couch -- Kate just wants to fit in, and she begins hanging out with the popular crowd, led by mean girl Taylor. When Haddie falls through pond ice one late-winter afternoon and Kate saves her, and it's captured on someone's smartphone, she becomes first a social-media hero and then a pariah -- it was maybe Kate's fault that Haddie was on the ice in the first place. Kate's journey to deciding to be her "own person" is affecting, and though this isn't a new premise, Kate is a relatable and believable tween character -- at different times perceptive and clueless, brave and cowardly, a hero and a villain. (c) Copyright 2023. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Kate is changing for better, worse, and everything in between. Seventh grade is starting, and Kate's mom has moved away, leaving her with her dad. She has been growing apart from former bestie Haddie, a nonconformist who doesn't feel like a good fit for Kate anymore. Popular mean girl Taylor, who befriends Kate, may not be the best fit, either. But Kate is--mostly--happy to be in Taylor's orbit, where she doesn't have to talk about her situation the way she would with Haddie, who is genuinely interested in her life. Kate even follows along when Taylor's clique harasses Haddie, resulting in Haddie's fall through the ice on a frozen pond. Narrated by Kate, the scene and her ugly, conflicting emotions are vividly described. Instinct kicks in, and Kate saves Haddie. Video of the rescue makes national media, and celebrities dub her Kate the Great. Is she? Tensions mount, and Kate anxiously treads water until her full role in the incident is exposed, forcing her to confront Haddie, Taylor, her mother, and herself. Kate must decide who she is: bully, hero, friend, foe, beloved daughter, dependent, all of the above. Characters are three-dimensional and realistically flawed, as Kate becomes increasingly aware. The resolution feels familiar but Kate's solution is unique; she won't be defined by one moment. This messy middle-school drama shines a light on what it means to develop identity. Illuminating. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
