Review by Booklist Review
Noah Frye made a new best friend, Jessa, at summer camp. Maybe a little too conveniently, Jessa just happens to move to Noah's hometown to start the new school year. Either way, Jessa falls in line perfectly with Noah's existing best-friend group. The problem for Noah is that everyone seems to have gotten boyfriends while she was away. Noah decides it is necessary to join the boyfriend party and sets out to conduct an at-first secret scientific experiment, which will certainly make her fall in love with Archie, the boy who just adopted her favorite dog. When both Archie and Jessa start volunteering at the animal shelter where Noah has volunteered for years, the forced proximity appears to assist in Noah's experiment, but probably not in the way readers would first suspect. With fun enumerations to start each chapter, this adorable queer middle-grade novel is filled with realistic characters, and includes a terrific relationship between two sisters, and compelling twists and turns. Hand this to fans of Nicole Melleby and Ashley Herring Blake.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4--7--Seventh grader Noah had an epic time at summer camp. Even better, her camp friend, Jessa, will attend Noah's school in the fall. Noah is also eager to reunite with her BFFs Zoey and Luna. However, something feels off about their dynamic. Suddenly Zoey and Luna are obsessed with discussing their crushes. Noah has never had romantic feelings for any boy, but she's desperate not to feel left out. She invents a crush of her own, employing a scientifically informed process to locate a suitable target. She settles on her classmate Archie, who is nice but doesn't make Noah light up the way Jessa does. After a series of embarrassing yet amusing mishaps, Noah eventually concludes what everyone else suspected all along: Jessa is the one for her. Noah is a wry narrator who shows emotional growth as the story progresses. The narrative has a light, breezy tone reminiscent of Lauren Myracle's "IM" series. In particular, the dialogue rings true to the typical middle schooler. Gratifyingly, Noah is surrounded by supportive people who give her the time and space she needs to discover her true self. Most characters cue white; Zoey's surname hints at East Asian heritage. VERDICT A fun and affirming coming-out story with relatable characters. Recommended.--Hannah Grasse
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Review by Horn Book Review
When Noah returns from summer camp to learn that her two best friends have each had their first kiss with a boy, she worries about being left behind in this new phase of development. Luckily, Jessa, her best friend from camp and a recent transplant to her town, fits right in with Noah's tight-knit friend trio, but even Jessa doesn't seem as lost as Noah when the conversation fixes on endless boy analysis. Noah develops a scientific plan to step up her boy game: choosing a target, telling her friends, spending time with said boy, flirting, "group hangs," and finally kissing. The selection of the target isn't difficult: Archie volunteers with Noah at the animal shelter; his family adopted her favorite pit bull rescue; and he seems nice, although nothing special. But is Jessa onto Noah's scheming? And is she...hurt by it? This enjoyable first-love tale features a charming small Canadian town under assault from a tasteless designer, the star of reality TV's Rural Refresh (who turns out to be Jessa's mom). Noah's big sister, Brighton, whose model relationship with her boyfriend shows Noah what a real partnership should feel like, offers her discretion "if there was ever anything you wanted to tell me." Readers, too, will be more clued in than the protagonist, who figures out her feelings for Jessa later than just about everyone else, but the ending is extra sweet for all that, allowing middle schoolers gay, straight, and questioning to enjoy this age-appropriate story without any of the heavy baggage that coming-out narratives can sometimes entail. Anita L. BurkamJuly/August 2024 p.128 (c) Copyright 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
As soon as Noah gets home from camp, things are different with her two best friends: Neither of them can stop talking about the boys they kissed over the summer. Noah, Zoey, and Luna were once so in sync that nothing came between them, but now Noah feels pressured to follow her friends into this boy-crazy phase. So, she makes up her own crush on a mystery boy. Really, the most exciting thing to Noah is that Jessa, a friend she made at camp, is moving to their small Canadian town, and she'll be joining them in grade seven! Still, Noah feels pressured to be excited about her friends' crushes, although it mostly feels like they're leaving her behind, which inspires her to undertake a very scientific experiment: "Assessing Friendship Elasticity in Courtship Habits of Twelve-Year-Old Juveniles." In other words, "If I joined in with the boy talk, could things feel normal again?" All the while, she's trying to make sure Jessa is included socially--which may be the most important thing of all. Horne skillfully encapsulates the awkwardness of tween friendships and first crushes. Noah is sympathetic and perpetually earnest, even when circumstances fly over her head; she has a lot of realizations that are packed into the novel's end, but they all feel genuine. The portrayal of strong, lifelong friendships that survive trials is refreshing, as is the positive queer representation. Central characters read white. Sweet and sincere. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
