Second Chance Summer

April 1, 2023
An already-damaged relationship turns seriously nasty at theater camp. Chloe and Maddie have been besties since kindergarten, but a lot has happened by the summer after seventh grade, when both go to Camp Rosewood in Southern California. Thin, redheaded Chloe, a White girl, has starred in Super Hero Kids, a popular streaming series; she's instantly recognized and fawned over by other campers. Maddie, who has two moms, is "a chubby Jewish girl with thick glasses and a tendency to fall over at the worst possible moments." Her dyspraxia led to an embarrassing incident on stage during the middle school musical this past spring--a video went viral. The girls' bond has not survived Maddie's humiliation and Chloe's rising star status. The narration goes back and forth between the two protagonists and the summer camp and school settings--chapters are labeled with names and time periods but can still be confusing. Maddie is a vivid character, but Chloe feels less authentic; among other things, she is too clueless about why her relationship with Maddie tanked: "Is she jealous of me or something?" As the camp pulls together a production of Wicked, the girls launch vengeful plots against each other but also confront serious issues: Chloe, her first period and attraction to girls, Maddie, the question of whether "fat girls can be the stars of our own stories." Drama kids will love the setup, though the emotional tug of war is protracted. A sincere exploration of friendship's ups and downs. (Fiction. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2023
Classmates Chloe and Maddie, both twelve, used to be best friends. Now they decidedly aren't, and they're dismayed to find themselves in the same bunk at a drama camp. Scenes of the summer (and a production of Wicked) alternate with flashbacks to the previous school year (and The Music Man), gradually revealing the embarrassing secrets each has about the other and the incident that caused the rift. The dynamic between Chloe, a professional child actor (but, lately, not child star), and Maddie, a self-described "chubby Jewish girl with thick glasses and a tendency to fall over at the worst possible moments" (she has dyspraxia), has settled into patterns that leave both feeling frustrated. They're each figuring things out about themselves, and what seems a simple case of an unbalanced friendship reveals itself to be more complex as the two eventually speak honestly about issues that have long festered between them. The book doesn't reach for tidy resolutions, but there's lighthearted fun to be had along the way, including some creativity with golem stories in a screenwriting elective and (spoiler alert) a sweet queer romantic subplot for one of the girls. Shoshana Flax

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from April 1, 2023
Grades 6-8 *Starred Review* With the same intersectional spirit that elevated her previous two novels, Kapit has the moms of 12-year-old Maddie--a self-described "chubby Jewish girl" with dyspraxia, which manifests as intermittent but serious lack of physical coordination--drop her off at theater camp, where she finds herself sharing a cabin with former bestie Chloe just months after their friendship catastrophically hit the rocks. The two, who relate subsequent events in alternating chapters, have devastatingly complementary character flaws as well as physical differences: Chloe is a bossy, glamorous, and totally self-centered child actor with a talent for saying hurtful things when they'll do the most damage, while Maddie is a longtime enabler with a weak will and a reluctance to mention her personal needs. Both, for different reasons, stand in need of a friend, though, and after a busy four weeks--during which Chloe gets her first period, a budding romance confirms her suspicion that she's gay, and Maddie (who doesn't lack for courage withal) takes the near certainty of public humiliation in hand to play Elphaba to her Galinda in a camp production of Wicked--the two tentatively agree to risk giving their battered, leaky relationship another go. Readers who enjoy nuanced character studies will be entranced, and those who think friendship is always a simple thing will be left with much to ponder.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2023
Classmates Chloe and Maddie, both twelve, used to be best friends. Now they decidedly aren't, and they're dismayed to find themselves in the same bunk at a drama camp. Scenes of the summer (and a production of Wicked) alternate with flashbacks to the previous school year (and The Music Man), gradually revealing the embarrassing secrets each has about the other and the incident that caused the rift. The dynamic between Chloe, a professional child actor (but, lately, not child star), and Maddie, a self-described "chubby Jewish girl with thick glasses and a tendency to fall over at the worst possible moments" (she has dyspraxia), has settled into patterns that leave both feeling frustrated. They're each figuring things out about themselves, and what seems a simple case of an unbalanced friendship reveals itself to be more complex as the two eventually speak honestly about issues that have long festered between them. The book doesn't reach for tidy resolutions, but there's lighthearted fun to be had along the way, including some creativity with golem stories in a screenwriting elective and (spoiler alert) a sweet queer romantic subplot for one of the girls.

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)