Exit Strategy

May 1, 2017
In Allbright’s entertaining debut novel, an itinerant middle schooler gets a humorous lesson in building relationships and putting down roots. Ross Stevens hasn’t just moved 11 times: he has made a grand exit from each school he’s attended, often involving a big prank that would’ve gotten him suspended if he had stayed. It’s a solid track record of what he calls “exit-lence,” but when Ross’s grandfather falls ill, the commitment-phobic 12-year-old is forced to settle down. Unaccustomed to forging real friendships beyond those involving his family and one childhood best friend, Ross has to learn how to get to know people—and think about how he wants to be known. While researching “how to be funny” for a science fair project, Ross learns how humor can bring people together or tear friends apart. Allbright’s fresh take on middle school social dynamics is genuine and sweet without being saccharine. Readers learn alongside Ross just how rewarding it can be to take risks and show one’s true self to the world. Ages 9–13. Agent: Emily Keyes, Fuse Literary.

March 15, 2017
Ross has elevated the art of leaving to an art form, so when he has to stay at a school for longer than a few months, he has trouble adjusting to his new reality.Because of his mom's career as a musician they move a lot. In fact, Ross has had to leave 11 different schools, and he's only 12. For his last day at a particular school, he's developed a tradition of making a dramatic exit so people remember him as the funny kid. But when his grandfather needs help while recovering from a fall, Ross' mom takes a job that doesn't involve any traveling, and Ross is stuck at his new school indefinitely. To fit in, he makes a plan, which doubles as his science project--become a funny person so people will like him. Using the scientific method, he researches, develops a methodology, and tests his jokes. Will people be impressed? Will Ross make any friends? Allbright mixes humorous diagrams and tables in with a charming first-person narrative in her debut novel about Ross and his classmates, who all seem to be white. Ross' inner dialogue is imaginative and self-deprecating, and most of the events in the book feel like natural consequences to a kid's habit of overthinking and trying too hard. Using the scientific method to make friends--clever and surprisingly effective. (Fiction. 8-12)

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April 1, 2017
Gr 5-7-Twelve-year-old Ross Stevens is an expert at grand farewells. After 12 moves in just three years, thanks to his mother's job in a traveling symphony, Ross has perfected the art of -exit-lence,- as he calls it, and doesn't worry about much else besides how he'll make a memorable exit. Friends and schoolwork aren't priorities, since he's never around long enough for either to matter. But when the boy's grandfather suffers a fall, Ross and his mom abandon their next move to take care of him. Ross is at a school for good for the first time, and he is terrified. A science fair project presents an opportunity: he decides to learn how to be funny and re-create himself with a winning personality. But that proves harder than Ross expected. Keeping with the science theme, chapters are named after steps in the scientific process and the narrative is interspersed with charts and graphs detailing everything from the protagonist's -Achievement of Exit-lence- to the -Universal Rules of Seventh Grade.- Ross is a likable character who experiences many of the highs and lows of middle school life, and his desire to fit in and define himself is humorously exaggerated. He shows growth over the course of the book, realizing that day-to-day choices are more important than grand events. Readers who appreciate Gary Paulsen's short, funny novels will find something to enjoy here. VERDICT For larger collections in need of stories about forging identity while navigating middle school.-Amanda Raklovits, Champaign Public Library, IL

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