HIDDEN TRUTHS

Trust and doughnuts get two longtime besties over a deep rift in the wake of a traumatic accident.

Dani lives and breathes baseball—but after achieving the ultimate triumph of making it onto an otherwise all-boy middle school team, a camper explosion leaves her with a broken leg, a concussion, and serious nerve damage. Her best friend, Eric, dragged her to safety, but he is tortured by guilt because, having a famously unreliable memory, he wonders if he forgot to turn the stove off. Was this disaster on their annual camping trip all his fault? Swartz skillfully tracks several emotional arcs in her two sixth graders through their alternating voices as Eric’s eventual agonized confession creates a break that drives both well-realized protagonists to fasten onto (and be disappointed by) new friends before realizing their mistake and seeking to mend fences. Eric turns out to be better at this than his tough-minded but inarticulate friend. His MO involves talks with God and bringing doughnuts to social encounters. Dani, her all-consuming determination to heal fast enough to rejoin the team that season only partially dimmed by setbacks, has guilt of her own to overcome for failing to meet him halfway. Sensitive readers will understand what neurodivergent Eric means when he declares “I see stuff differently” as a superpower. The cast reads white; Eric is cued Jewish.

A warm testament to the healing power of mutual respect—and doughnuts.