All the ways to go

Milo is a chess whiz, but he's lost his "zone." After he intentionally throws a game, his summer at chess camp ends, and he and his mom end up in New Jersey with a friend from her single-moms group. Soon, he's sharing space with the overly enthusiastic Roxie, who doesn't care what others think, and the pair become "counselors in training" at a local summer camp, where Milo learns the game of Go. The intrigue of a new game brings Milo and Roxie together, but Milo worries his changing interests will disappoint his mother. As major family secrets are revealed, Milo and Roxie grow closer and help each other grow. Told with heart and humor, Milo's story of struggling to tell the truth about his feelings ring true for the preteen set, and his relationship with Gruth, his grandma Ruth, adds a charming intergenerational layer. A good pick for tweens struggling to figure out who they want to be and where they fit in.

A New York City boy whose stress over winning chess matches takes him out of the zone intentionally throws an important match--but losing a chess camp scholarship as a result changes his world. Milo and his mom end up spending the summer in Princeton, New Jersey, with a girl named Roxie, her philosophy professor mother, Nava, and their cats. The two women met through an online group for single moms; both used sperm donors to conceive. Milo, 12, and Roxie, 10, attend a day camp that's filled with younger children, but fortunately, the two are designated counselors-in-training. After the kids meet some grad students who are playing Go, they become intrigued by the complex Asian strategy game. Obsessed, they visit a university library to do research ("free-range" Roxie shows Milo how to sneak in at night after hours) and persuade the counselors to let them teach simplified Go to the campers. Milo, who's longing for his grandma and best friend Henry, and Roxie, who's very intelligent but struggles with social cues, grow closer, devote themselves to Go, and figure out various personal issues. Milo's humorous first-person narration focuses on the philosophical intricacies of Go and his growing relationship with Roxie. Comical interludes show texts between Milo and his grandmother and Henry. Milo and his mom present as Ashkenazi Jews; Roxie and Nava are Persian Jews. A sweet story about friendship between an unlikely pair and the intrigue of an ancient strategy game. (author's note, information about Go, resources)(Fiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.