Charlotte’s dad is in the hospital and her “best friend”
is ignoring her. Ben’s parents are getting a divorce and he’s being bullied at
school. Only a writer with Erin Entrada Kelly’s insights and talent could make middle
school anguish feel real, humorous, poignant, and engaging. Kelly’s Hello Universe just won the Newbery
Award. It’s outstanding and I loved it, but You
Go First tops it. This is a book that will capture thinking preteens, especially
those who don’t see their own lives as perfect. It’s also a book that teachers
and parents will value because it will help them help the kids they love.
Charlotte and Ben met via an online Scrabble game. She’s
twelve, lives near Philadelphia and is lonely especially now that she’s afraid
that her dad might die and there’s no one to talk to about it. Ben’s eleven and he lives in a small town in Louisiana. He's lonely and is being physically bullied
at school. Just as he’s entering a new school where his interest in
presidential history and Harry Potter isn’t appreciated, learning of his
parents pending divorce leaves him confused and isolated. Both Ben and Charlotte are brilliant outsiders
trying to survive middle school. They’re also kids who care deeply about words
and the way they love learning and using words is both clever and endearing.
Readers quickly become a part of Ben and Charlotte’s
burgeoning friendship. With alternating chapters expressing each of their points
of view, the reader quickly gets to know and care about them. You Go First celebrates friendship and
the new ways kids form friendships online before they even consider actually
talking to each other. The book also shows the importance of family, especially
for outsider kids.
It’s been awhile since I read a children’s book that kept
me up past my bedtime. (I love my sleep.) You
Go First is so fast paced that when I finished a short chapter, I’d think –
just one more and soon I’d read THE WHOLE
THING. Kudos to Harper Collins for offering this excerpt with the first 33
pages of the book. Once you or your favorite nine to twelve-year-old read it,
you’ll be hooked and may find yourself begged to download the book immediately.
Summing
it Up: You Go First is a delightful
charmer filled with humor and compassion. It’s a perfect book for every kid who
doesn’t exactly fit in – and that’s probably most of them. Buy this book for
caring kids and teachers and parents who love them. Teachers who used Wonder in their classrooms will want to
share this one.
A personal note: I had the privilege
of introducing Erin Entrada Kelly for her reading at the Harbor Springs Festival
of the Book last year. Erin told me that her mother lives in a convent in the Philippines
and even though Erin isn’t particularly religious, her mother’s influence
colors her work in a variety of ways. I
think readers will see that in You Go
First through her compassion for her characters and in the way they treat
each other.
Rating:
5 stars
Ages
9 to 12
Category:
Fiction, Five Stars, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Book Club
Publication
date: April 10, 2018
Author
Website: http://www.erinentradakelly.com/
Colby
Sharp’s video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6quAMxgywwY
Read
an Excerpt: https://issuu.com/harpercollinschildrensbooks/docs/you_go_first?e=22906843/59200322
Interview
with the Author: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/76377-q-a-with-erin-entrada-kelly.html
What
Others are Saying:
“Kelly
knows her audience well and uses Ben and Charlotte’s alternating points of view
to capture moments of tween anguish with searing honesty. ...Heartfelt and
hopeful, this novel will encourage young readers to offer their hand in
friendship to kids who, just like them, might be struggling.” — School Library
Journal (starred review)
“Readers
will undoubtedly see themselves in these pages. ...A well-crafted, entertaining
call for middle schoolers to find their voices and remain accountable in
shaping their own social spheres.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A
delicate look at friendship, bullying and coming of age. ...You Go First is a
brilliant follow-up to Entrada Kelly’s Newbery winner Hello, Universe, and
challenges readers to rethink the rules of friendship.” — Shelf Awareness (starred review)
“The
link between the two main characters becomes a subtle bond that enables each
one to make it through an emotionally challenging week and come out stronger.
Readers drawn by the intriguing jacket art will enjoy the novel’s perceptive
dual narrative.” — Booklist
“With
character-revealing prose, Kelly holds readers’ attention as the narrative
moves back and forth between her two fully realized protagonists and their
intricately drawn home and school settings.” — The Horn Book
“Kelly
writes with sympathetic gravity of young people who feel lost in a world where
they thought they knew the way. ...Readers will be glad to see that both
[Charlotte and Ben] will manage to remain themselves and be okay.” — Bulletin
of the Center for Children’s Books
Publishers
Weekly: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-06-241418-2
School
Library Journal: https://www.slj.com/2017/12/reviews/books/go-first-erin-entrada-kelly-slj-review/#_
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