I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it. It was a pretty typical "girl finding courage to use her voice" book, and it was realistic and sympathetic enough. There were really two issues in the book, the dress code issue and a situation where Molly's older brother was vaping and selling pods to younger kids, and causing major friction at home. I thought the part about the vaping brother was engaging and timely, but the thing about the dress code seemed a bit whiny to me. Yes, the administration was enforcing the dress code unfairly by focusing on shapely girls, while ignoring boys and more juvenile looking girls , but the existence of a dress code is not, in my mind, necessarily a bad thing. The author focused on body shaming, but ignored the fact that eventually kids need to learn to dress appropriately. You can't go through life in shorts and tank tops. I have had job applicants show up in ripped jeans or sweat pants and it is a deal breaker with me as an employer. So when do you start teaching kids to wear appropriate clothes? I don't think Jr. High is too early. Just because I disagree with the author doesn't mean it is a bad book, and I will probably recommend it to kids who like the social crusading kinds of stories. (2020, 320 p.)
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