LEAH VS. ART

A middle schooler struggles to adjust to new circumstances.

Leah likes things her own way, and it seems like she might finally be able to achieve that goal. Her family relocates often due to her father’s military career, but his impending retirement means their move to Virginia may become permanent. She’s excited to organize her belongings, bond with her new friends (the self-dubbed “Team Awkward”), and participate in Kagan Middle School’s QuizBowl. But her parents sign her up for an art club scheduled at the same time as QuizBowl practice. Leah, who craves control, loathes the unstructured creativity of an artistic environment and decides to make it seem like she’s attending while sneaking off to her preferred extracurricular. Yet even in QuizBowl, she’s frustrated, more committed to winning than to having fun. As in the other series entries—each of which focuses on another member of Team Awkward—the protagonist’s internal struggles to be true to herself while developing relationships with her peers are specific and well realized. The dance of family dynamics holds equal weight with life at school, highlighting an essential element of the middle school experience. Leah is biracial (her mother is Thai, while her father is white); her peers are diverse.

An involving, empathetic portrait of the frustrations and fun of growing up.