Available:*
Material Type | Library | Call Number | Item Barcode | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book | Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library | TWEEN FICTION SWINARSKI | 31330009286430 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Amesbury Public Library | J FIC SWINARSKI | 32114002803451 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library Children's Room | J SWINARSKI | 31330009300637 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Billerica Public Library | YA/SWINARSKI | 33934004665031 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Chelmsford Public Library | Y/FIC/SWINARSKI | 31480011750483 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Groton Public Library | YA MG SWINARSKI | 37003701990666 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Hamilton-Wenham Public Library | Y SWI | 30470002079282 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Haverhill Public Library | J/FIC/SWINARSKI | 31479007609075 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Ipswich Public Library | J SWINARSKI | 32122002994808 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Ipswich Public Library | YA FIC SWINARSKI, CLAIRE | 32122003004722 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Merrimac Public Library | J SWI | 32125001485991 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Rowley Public Library | J FIC SWI | 32130001056081 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Salisbury Public Library | J FIC SWI | 32131000984224 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Tewksbury Public Library | TEEN FICTION SWINARSKI | 32132003369082 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... West Newbury - G.A.R. Memorial Library | J SWI | 32135001587639 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Westford - J.V. Fletcher Library | MG F SWINARSKI (M) | 31990005290825 | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
ALA Notable Children's Book Regional Indie Bestseller Audie Award Winner Edgar Award Nominee Cybils Award Nominee YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults New York Public Library Best Book of the Year Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Amazon Best Book of the Year SLJ Best Book of the Year Texas Lone Star Reading List Capital Choices Noteworthy Book for Children BookPage Best Book of the Year
In this engrossing and inventive contemporary middle grade novel that's Where'd You Go, Bernadette with a #MeToo message, an eighth grader uses social media posts, passed notes, and other clues to find out why a formerly popular girl is now the pariah of her new school.
Anna Hunt may be the new girl at East Middle School, but she can already tell there's something off about her eighth-grade class. Rachel Riley, who just last year was one of the most popular girls in school, has become a social outcast. But no one, including Rachel Riley herself, will tell Anna why.
As a die-hard podcast enthusiast, Anna knows there's always more to a story than meets the eye. So she decides to put her fact-seeking skills to the test and create her own podcast around the question that won't stop running through her head: What happened to Rachel Riley?
With the entire eighth grade working against her, Anna dives headfirst into the evidence. Clue after clue, the mystery widens, painting an even more complex story than Anna could have anticipated. But there's one thing she's certain of: If you're going to ask a complicated question, you better be prepared for the fallout that may come with the answer.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
As the new girl at her Madison, Wis., middle school, Anna Hunt isn't surprised to be sitting alone in the cafeteria. But another eighth grader--Rachel Riley-- is too, and when Anna finds that Rachel used to be one of the grade's most popular girls, she wants to know what happened. Anna, who wants to be "the next Sarah Koenig," frames her investigation as a podcast, hoping to apply to a summer camp with the results: an exploration of "bullying. Social classes.... A middle school caste system." But no one will talk, not even Rachel, who admits she knows the reason behind her being ostracized. In a quietly suspenseful book, Swinarksi (The Kate in Between) uses Anna's emails with her beloved Polish grandmother, as well as her thoughts and interactions at home and school, to give readers a good sense of the 12-year-old, who's a year younger than her classmates, and happier reading than socializing. Amid universal discouragement, Anna keeps asking awkward questions, eventually garnering help from classmates and her computer-genius older sister. With a slow reveal, the novel shows how frequently written-off behavior can constitute sexual harassment, and how individuals can create change by having the courage to question the narrative. Most characters read as white. Ages 8--12. Agent: Alex Slater, Trident Media Group. (Jan.)
Kirkus Review
How did the most popular girl in school become persona non grata? New kid and aspiring podcaster Anna Hunt could have taken the easy route for her social issues assignment about any subject that was important to her. But somehow Anna always comes back to the question, "What happened to Rachel Riley?" Does it have anything to do with the mysterious game the boys have been playing? Anna's investigation unfolds in emails, text threads, personal narratives, articles, and voice recordings as she asks difficult questions, struggles to make friends, and questions how and if the world can change for the better. Ultimately, Anna's un-essay explores sexual harassment between middle school peers, specifically boys giving each other points for slapping girls' butts and snapping their bra straps. As in Barbara Dee's Maybe He Just Likes You (2019), there's social pressure to stay silent and laugh it all off as a joke. Given the central focus on teasing apart this issue, it's understandable that many of the characters lack depth. Anna's mother emigrated from Poland, and Anna is bilingual; some supporting characters have names that point to non-European heritage. With its highlighting of fun and educational facts, the writing style and subject matter make this a good fit for classroom or book club reading and discussion. A useful addition to the pool of middle-grade books about sexual harassment at school. (Fiction. 10-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Moving from Chicago to Madison, Wisconsin, for eighth grade is an unwanted change for bookish Anna Hunt, but at least she has it better than Rachel Riley. Anna can't spot anything that would make her classmate such an outcast, but after doing a little digging, Anna realizes that Rachel used to be extremely popular. Why was she utterly alone now? What happened to Rachel Riley? This question crawls under Anna's skin, ultimately becoming the focus of her application (a mock podcast) for a youth podcasting summit led by her hero, investigative journalist Mimi Miller. What begins as a look into bullying and the social politics of middle school expands into a revealing study of sexual harassment in the ways that "minor" incidents can both be normalized and have significant negative effects on victims. Told largely through embedded emails, texts, and interview transcripts, the novel pulls in a variety of adult and student perspectives as Anna follows clues and endeavors not to become shunned herself. She emerges as a complex protagonist, whose struggles over leaving her friends and Polish community in Chicago are threaded throughout, as is the war raging between her sense of justice and introverted nature. An empowering and empathetic companion to Barbara Dee's Maybe He Just Likes You (2019) and Brigit Young's The Prettiest (2020).