Izzy Kline Has Butterflies

January 2, 2017
Fourth-grader Izzy Kline takes readers through a year of vulnerability, self-searching, and triumph, narrating in brief and incisive free-verse poems. Though Izzy’s two former best friends ignore her as the school year begins, Izzy’s confidence gradually builds, as does her friendship with independent-minded Quinn, who can be bossy, but everything she does “makes everything/ everyone else does look/ less interesting.” Izzy’s free-association poems give readers a direct line into her whirlwind worries and wonderings: working on a map project for school, she confides that after her father announced that he was moving out while he was helping her with a leaf project, it left her “afraid of projects,/ because of what someone might tell you right/ in the middle of one.” Izzy’s thawing relationship with her father is one of many heartwarming threads in Ain’s (the Starring Jules series) story; others include an unexpected revelation that cements her bond with Quinn, her push-and-pull rapport with her older brother, and the validation provided by her class’s preparation to perform Marlo Thomas’s “Free to Be... You and Me.” Ages 8–12. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill Grinberg Literary Management.

December 1, 2016
Small moments, both good and bad, characterize Izzy Kline's fourth-grade year, the year she finds a new best friend. Short free-verse chapters, each with a school-related heading, describe memorable moments in Izzy's year, from the day she gets the postcard with her room assignment (not with her old friends) through snow days and spring break to the end-of-year picnic with her mom and Quinn, new in September and now her best friend. Ain makes background music of songs from Free to Be You and Me, the children's entertainment project that was shown in many schools in the 1970s, but it is set in the present time. White, Jewish Izzy is an appealing narrator with a convincing voice. There are joyful episodes: giggling with old friends as they practice their times tables; her solo in the fourth-grade performance. And there are serious, difficult ones: the Klines are divorced, which may not be a bad thing since sometimes Izzy's father's simmering anger boils over on to his family; her friend Quinn is a cancer survivor, and when she faints at school, everyone worries about a recurrence. But Izzy is resilient. She tends to think positively, and things work out in ways that will please. Izzy's classmates' identities are left purposely vague, a choice that does not disrupt the white default. Light, bright, and believable, just right for young middle graders. (Fiction. 8-12)

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February 1, 2017

Gr 3-6-From the author of Starring Jules comes a novel in verse about Izzy Kline, a fourth grader whose parents are divorced, who would like a role in her school's production of Free To Be You and Me. This is Izzy's first-person account of the "butterfly" moments (times that make her feel as though she has butterflies in her stomach) that happen as her world changes. Izzy's language is descriptive and observant; she discusses making new friends, adjusting to her parents living apart, and dealing with four annoying boys in her class. Chapters are short, and the verse is quick and light.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2017
Grades 3-5 A year in the life of fourth-grader Izzy Kline, told in buoyant free verse, is set against the backdrop of Marlo Thomas' Free to Be . . . You and Me. Izzy and her classmates begin the year by listening to the album, watching the television special, and preparing a musical adaptation. Life lessons in the identity exploration project coincide and at times collide with her own life as she grapples with her parents' recent divorce and the shocking news that her best friend has cancer. Ain's deliberate pacing and line breaks give honest deference to the sometimes difficult but astute observations Izzy makes: Guilt, I think, / is when something feels good and bad / at the same time. Free to Be . . . You and Me might be too dated for today's younger readers to connect with, and it is a large part of the novel. Despite the outdated reference, Ain's verse format is ideally suited to the novel's examination of profound concepts while maintaining a lighthearted tone.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)