Estaban, Haley, Amari, Ashton, and Holly are 5th and 6th graders who have different ways of learning. Their school starts a program where they are put together in a small class. At first they don't know each other, but as their wise teacher gives them time alone to talk, they start to share some of the struggles they each have. Their willingness to be vulnerable with each other creates a family-like bond between the children.This book has received a ton of starred reviews this year. It has a lot going for it. Woodson is a well known and lyric writer. The kids are diverse and each has a really difficult, but totally realistic, challenge. One has a parent in jail, another has a parent who has been deported, another has ADHD, one is struggling with racial prejudice, and another is being bullied. I really believe this will be on everyone's potential Newbery list. The thing is, I didn't like it that much. I didn't hate it like I hated Wolf Hollow two years ago but I didn't love it. The reason is that I was never convinced that they were real 10 and 11 year old children. The way they talked and the way that they were totally supportive of each other and philosophical about their lives was not realistic to me. If they had been fifteen or sixteen, maybe. There were moments when they sounded more like their supposed ages, but much of the book I felt the author was putting her own thoughts and ideals in their mouths instead of letting them tell their own story their own way. There was an interview at the end of the recording of Ms Woodson talking with her 11 year old son. It made me a little amused that in the interview she was kind of putting words into her son's mouth just as she had put words into her character's mouths. It will be interesting to see if it wins any awards.
(2018, 176 p.)
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