An outsider aching for inclusion becomes the perpetrator of escalating stunts before her inevitable undoing in Mari Lowe's absorbing and principled middle-grade triumph The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman.
Eleven-year-old Shaindy Goodman isn't unpopular among her Jewish day school classmates--it's more like Shaindy isn't anything to them. Shaindy thinks of herself as "invisible," an afterthought. So, when Shaindy's neighbor, Gayil, a popular teacher's pet and rabbi's daughter, invites Shaindy to join in late-night pranks of their peers ("a fun distraction," pitches Gayil), Shaindy believes she finally has a crack at the friendship she's always craved. As their community prepares for the high holidays, emphasizing teshuva (repentance) and atonement, the girls' mischief ratchets up in cruelty before the focus turns wholly on Shaindy. With shame and crushing self-awareness, Shaindy accepts that the moral sacrifices she made to feel seen left her blind to the selfishness driving the actions.
As in her debut, Aviva vs. the Dybbuk, Lowe wastes not a word in crafting this taut and emotionally roiled exploration of culpability and forgiveness. Gayil is right--"sixth grade is hard"--and Shaindy's vulnerability will likely resonate deeply with readers who share Shaindy's longing for acceptance. Lowe's empathetic touch avoids sanctimonious treatment of hefty themes, and the insular feel of the Orthodox neighborhood Lowe constructs lends additional weight to Shaindy's plight--the void gapes wide between being always recognized and never included. Rest assured, readers: as it did for Shaindy, this, too, shall pass. --Kit Ballenger, youth librarian, Help Your Shelf