A sincere friendship story full of heartache, growth, and self-discovery.
Twelve-year-old Sadie Zankel can’t believe her luck when she’s accidentally added to the group chat of an exclusive friend group at East Brookside Middle School.
Sadie Zankel and Olive Horowitz-Yang have been best friends since birth. The night before seventh grade, Sadie sets a clear intention: Quit obsessing over OSZ—the Other Sadie Z, or Sadie Zicholtz—and her clique. OSZ’s crew never get it wrong—perfect outfits, perfect hair, and an effortless confidence Sadie can’t match. Even though she knows it’s wrong, after she’s mistakenly added, Sadie secretly stays on the group chat. Armed with an insider’s perspective, she gains the confidence to talk with the friend group members in real life and establish a connection—for herself. She’s aware that if they took her in, there wouldn’t be room for Olive too. Unlike Sadie, Olive isn’t obsessed with OSZ; she wants their friendship to stay the same. When Olive learns about the group chat, her anxiety deepens, straining their bond. Ultimately, Sadie realizes she can grow and make new friends without leaving her friendship with Olive behind. The chapters switch between Sadie’s first-person narration and text exchanges. Sadie navigates the familiar highs and lows of middle school, including a crush, awkward self-doubt, and friendship drama. Her perspective, thoughtfully juxtaposed with the group chat, show that personal struggles are universal. The leads are Jewish, and Olive’s surname cues some Asian heritage.
A sincere friendship story full of heartache, growth, and self-discovery. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 12, 2026
ISBN: 9780063456013
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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