You Go First

December 1, 2017

Gr 4-6-An online Scrabble game is more than a pastime, it's a lifeline for middle schoolers Charlotte and Ben: both children are coping with heartache. Charlotte's father is in the hospital, and her best friend is drifting toward a new social circle where Charlotte isn't welcome. Struggling to fit in at a new school, Ben's parents announce their divorce. The children's game postings evolve into a friendship by phone-they live in different states-that reassures them they aren't alone. Kelly (Hello, Universe) knows her audience well and uses Ben and Charlotte's alternating points of view to capture moments of tween anguish with searing honesty. Foreshadowing facts lead each of Charlotte's chapters and information about sea stars is perfectly incorporated in a powerful scene about bullying. Kelly takes the concerns of young readers' seriously while reassuring them that, with time and resilience, they will eventually be okay. Ben and Charlotte's gradual understanding of the changing forces that affect their lives is reinforced through gentle pacing and careful plotting: a Robert Frost quote is strategically placed so that when revealed in its entirety, both the protagonists-and readers-are ready to understand it. VERDICT Heartfelt and hopeful, this novel will encourage young readers to offer their hand in friendship to kids who, just like them, might be struggling.-Marybeth Kozikowski, Sachem Public Library, Holbrook, NY

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2018
Preteens Charlotte Lockard and Ben Boxer enjoy an ongoing online Scrabble feud, each vying for word-game domination, while they both silently struggle with middle school social catastrophes and crumbling family infrastructures. Suddenly, their intermittent Scrabble banter becomes an unexpected lifeline. Pennsylvanian Charlotte's rock collections, incessant anagramming, and deep-delving thought spirals charm readers instantly; Louisianan Ben's sputtering, encyclopedic knowledge of presidential history, Ravenclaw blanket, relentless recycling statistics, and stick-to-it optimism couldn't be sweeter. Guileless and earnest, these two kids seem poised for inevitable heartbreak. Charlotte can't face her lifelong best friend, who suddenly thinks she's a "parasite," or her father, who's recovering in the ICU after a heart attack. Ben can't understand his parents' marriage's "devolution" into a divorce or the ridicule his student council campaign incites. Catastrophe looms and builds through the book, the reckoning of a single week that culminates with a crucial convergence of the Scrabble friends' virtual world with their real one. Charlotte's and Ben's alternating first-person accounts of their humiliations and struggles induce a constricting tightness in readers' chests. Their unspoken feelings and worries (which appear in quavering italics) weigh heavily. Readers will undoubtedly see themselves in these pages. Charlotte and Ben are both depicted with pale skin and dark hair on the cover; their respective ethnicities go unmentioned, and their supporting cast is a diverse one.A well-crafted, entertaining call for middle schoolers to find their voices and remain accountable in shaping their own social spheres. (Fiction. 8-12)

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February 26, 2018
In Newbery Medalist Kelly’s (Hello, Universe) new novel, a long-distance online friendship provides a lifeline for two brainy, lonely kids facing turbulent events. Tautly plotted, the narrative alternates points of view between 12-year-old Charlotte in the Philadelphia suburbs and 11-year-old Ben in Louisiana, who share a love of words and play a running game of online Scrabble. During one tumultuous week each faces grave challenges: Charlotte can’t face her father’s heart attack and struggles as her former best friend shifts into a more popular clique, and loner Ben denies the impact of his parents’ divorce and plunges himself into an out-of-character student council election. Kelly balances the humiliations of middle school—the desperation over where to sit at lunch, bullying, and social jockeying—with real kindness; each protagonist believably becomes more honest and forms new connections. Ultimately, Kelly crafts an incisive portrait of friendship and resilience. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties.

Amielynn Abellera narrates the story of a tumultuous week in the lives of two middle schoolers. Deftly moving between their voices in alternating chapters, Abellera excels at capturing the nuanced emotions of Ben, age 11, and Charlotte, age 12, two smart kids who connect as long-distance online Scrabble competitors. Already facing middle school problems such as best friend troubles and social awkwardness, Ben and Charlotte also must grapple with divorce and the grave illness of a parent. Abellera captures the searing embarrassment kids feel in lunchrooms and hallways. Overall, she portrays Ben and Charlotte ars complex and believable, as are the voices of those around them, including the mean girls and mean boys they encounter. This tautly plotted story will engage a range of listeners well beyond middle schoolers. J.C.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

February 1, 2018
Grades 4-6 It's a bold step when 11-year-old Ben, reeling from the news that his parents plan to divorce, asks 12-year-old Charlotte if they can talk on the phone sometimes. Friendly rivals in an online Scrabble game for several months, they've never met and don't realize what they have in common: each is intellectually gifted, lonely, and suddenly coping with troubles (Ben's parents' divorce and his ill-fated run for student council; Charlotte's father's heart attack, as well as rejection by her best friend). The story's momentum never falters as, chapter by chapter, the disarming third-person text shuttles between Charlotte's story, set in Pennsylvania, and Ben's in Louisiana. Those phone conversations? Though realistically awkward and anything but candid, they still provide a lifeline for two vulnerable kids feeling suddenly adrift and alone. Each story develops independently over six days, but the link between the two main characters becomes a subtle bond that enables each one to make it through an emotionally challenging week and come out stronger. Readers drawn by the intriguing jacket art will enjoy the novel's perceptive dual narrative.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)