Chirp

Starred review from October 15, 2019
"Sometimes courage is quiet." Mia's life turned upside down a year ago when she broke her arm during a gymnastics routine, so a family move back to Vermont, where Mia's paternal grandmother lives, seems like the perfect fresh start. Gram farms crickets as an alternative food source, and Mia is eager to help out during the summer. Things start going wrong at the farm, however, and Gram is certain that sabotage is the cause. With the help of new friends made and new skills acquired at the day camps her parents force her to attend, Mia is determined to keep Gram's beloved business from failing. But to grow past obstacles internal and external, she must first find the courage to speak out. This story defies categorization: It's at once a friendship yarn, a summer idyll, a mystery, and a push for female empowerment. Messner deftly weaves together myriad complex plot threads to form a captivating whole. Characters are well drawn and multifaceted; all are imbued with a rich individuality, from earnest, increasingly confident Mia to the never seen farmhand James who attends all his husband's baseball games. The women, tellingly, remain at the helm throughout. They are entrepreneurs, activists, engineers, mayors; they are mothers, daughters, friends, lovers. Each woman's rise is its own story, giving Mia a supportive space in which she can come to terms with her own conflicts. Mia and her family are white; the supporting cast is vigorously diverse. Rich, timely, and beautifully written. (Fiction. 10-14)

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from November 18, 2019
When Mia’s grandma has a mild stroke, the middle schooler’s family moves from Boston to Burlington, Vt., to help her grandmother sell her cricket farm. As a former entomology professor and entomophagist, however, Gram is determined to get more people eating protein-rich crickets and expand the farm—if she can first figure out who is sabotaging it. With the help of two friends she meets at Launch Camp for Young Entrepreneurs, Mia—a fearless gymnast until an injury and a painful secret leaves her uncertain and cautious—creates a business plan for Gram’s cricket farm and starts sleuthing for Gram’s
saboteur. But doing so means that Mia must find both her courage and her voice. Messner addresses #MeToo themes authentically and with care as her story moves toward empowerment: Mia displays fear and confusion alongside a hope to reclaim the strength she once felt as a gymnast. Layering mystery elements, strong and myriad female characters, and a poignant analogy involving chirp-less female crickets, Messner gently guides Mia on a journey of resilience that both comforts and inspires. Ages 10–14. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary.

February 1, 2020

Gr 4-6-Messner crafts a timely "#MeToo" novel wrapped in intriguing parallel mysteries. What turned talented gymnast Mia away from the sport she loved after a fall and surgery? There's a story she hasn't told anyone. And who is sabotaging her Gram's fledgeling cricket farm? In the summer after seventh grade, Mia finds the courage-and voice-to confront both. Helping Mia reclaim her strength are the skills she develops while attending two summer camps and a number of memorable female supporting characters. New friend Clover's innate bravery and self-confidence help Mia remember she is strong, too. Gram almost steals the spotlight as the novel's most inspiring character through her rich backstory and, like Mia, is determined to recover from a physical setback. Most male figures-both human and insect-are depicted as characters who are less mature and sensitive than their female counterparts. A male camper eventually apologizes to Mia's friend Anna for making her feel uncomfortable with his advances. At Mia's request, her mother tells her father about Mia's past abuse to spare the teen re-telling her painful story to him; "Dad wasn't great about talking about things like that." The novel's important themes successfully inspire and empower its audience. Mia's shyness, aversion to gymnastics, and discomfort with unfamiliar boys and men clearly establishes the thematic subtext of the novel for young readers, even when the action is focused on the sabotage afoot. VERDICT A novel that succeeds most as a carefully plotted, engaging mystery and middle grade-appropriate introduction to a serious and pervasive issue.-Marybeth Kozikowski, Sachem Public Library, Holbrook, NY

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2019
Grades 5-8 Mia and her parents are moving back to Vermont to help her grandmother, a former entomologist, sell her cricket farm. Mia's happy to leave the bustle of Boston, but she's less enthused about having to attend two summer camps instead of vegging out in front of the TV, her favorite pastime since her gymnastics injury last year. Despite her reluctance, the Launch (entrepreneurial) and Ninja Warrior camps help her in ways she never expected. Meanwhile, someone is out to sabotage Gram's business after she decides to expand rather than sell, inspiring Mia's Launch project and adding a fun, mystery element to the story. Amid common themes of friendship and overcoming fears, Messner (Breakout, 2018) folds in strong messaging about sexual harassment, most poignantly in Mia's experience with a former gymnastics coach. As Mia's trauma is slowly revealed, Messner incorporates others' #MeToo experiences, providing her with a strong support system of women. This book directly addresses a relevant topic rarely discussed with middle-schoolers?and it's not the lively debate over whether people should eat crickets.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)