In her seventh book for young readers, Coretta Scott King Award Honoree Tanita S. Davis (Mare's War) gives a genuine look at the confusing and sometimes painful changes that take place in middle school.
Sixth grader Serena St. John aspires to be a vlogger like her older sister, Fallon, and she has a lot to get off her chest this year. She's smarting from a rejection to be one of her homeroom's morning announcements reporters, and her best friend, JC, recently homebound after a kidney transplant, seems to have traded Serena in for a new model: cool girl Leilani Camacho. "It's not like Leilani isn't nice," and Serena has no reason to not like her, "none at all, except that it seems like JC likes her... more than me." All of a sudden Serena and JC's science projects, gossip and homework sessions are all Lani-centered and either exclude Serena entirely or include her only as an afterthought. Serena is so mired in sadness that she doesn't recognize the ways she personally shines or that other classmates do want to be her friend.
Davis captures the tumult of middle school realistically and undramatically, not shying away from the inadvertently insensitive and catty comments typically made by preteens and treating topics like mental illness with the gentle care they deserve. With a diverse cast of characters (Serena is Black; JC and Leilani are Filipina; their classmates are multicultural), Serena Says will fit in any home, classroom or public library. And adults having trouble understanding the middle schoolers in their own lives should find the novel eye-opening as well. --Sarah Hannah Gómez, freelance reviewer and author