New Kids and Underdogs

September 1, 2022
Ten-year-old Robyn prepares to be the new kid again by writing a set of rules to help her blend in and make friends. Robyn and her biology professor mom have relocated frequently, but this move to San Luis Obispo, California, might be permanent, so Robyn has planned for a successful transition. When her beloved rescue dogs, Sundae and Fudge, are turned away from an agility class because of their disabilities (Fudge is deaf and has limited vision; Sundae has anxiety), Robyn makes a deal with the dog trainer's grandson, Nestor; Nestor's cousin, Jonathan; and classmate Alejandra. Alejandra will provide math tutoring and Robyn will bring snacks in exchange for ability training for Sundae and Fudge. In school, however, Robyn tries to blend in with judgy Lulu and Marshan and ignores Alejandra, who skipped a grade and dresses all in purple. Consumed with what others think of her, Robyn forgets to think about others; in a conversation with her babysitter, Nivien, Robyn realizes, "It's like the rules have become the bus driver, and I'm the bus." In this well-paced work that relatably unpacks core aspects of middle school life, Robyn realizes as her rules backfire that as much as she wants others to know her whole story, she needs to be open to learning theirs as well. Robyn and her mom are assumed White; secondary characters are ethnically diverse. A thoughtful story about learning to look beneath the surface and be a better friend. (Fiction. 8-12)

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October 31, 2022
Ten-year-old Robyn Kellen is used to being new in school, having moved regularly for her biology professor single mother’s work. Heading into the fifth grade in San Luis Obispo, Calif.—a change that has the potential to become permanent—Robyn is determined to “minimize the worst of being a new kid.” In a notebook given to her by her father, she drafts a list of new-kid rules based on the principle of cause and effect: “By reading the signs and sending the right signals, couldn’t she make it easier? Couldn’t she gain some control over the matter?” The year starts well, with two girls seemingly trying to befriend her. Robyn’s failed attempt to enroll her Jack Russell terrier mixes in an agility training class brings her into close contact with Alejandra, Jonathan, and Nestor, but she worries that befriending them breaks her rules. With plenty of support, Robyn learns in her own time how her rules might be limiting her, making final realizations both hard-won and satisfying in this assured, dynamic-aware novel from Finnegan (Susie B. Won’t Back Down). Robyn presents as white; secondary characters read as racially diverse. Ages 8–12.