- life’s complicated for a 4th grade girl with speech challenges, fear issues, and mean girls
- while camping, the girl stumbles upon a mystery that can’t even be solved by professionals
- convo: bully at school, 9-year-olds with their own phones, subtle emphasis on mother being more the leader of the family than the father, a girl frequently mocks her younger siblings, a “boyfriend” mentioned a few times, girl thinks another girl is perfect because she’s blond and skinny, talk of boys [in elementary school] liking a girl, descriptions of horror movies she watched without parents’ knowledge, a few brief but creepy scenes at the campground, parents don’t discipline disrespectful kids (one exception)
- language: jerk x2, stupid x5, “i hate you” x1
Type: chapter book
Ages: 11-14
Author: Carol L. Paur
Illustrator: Michael Genova
The general message being delivered through this story is to stand up for yourself. Rowley, our main gal, has dealt with a cleft lip and affected speech her whole life. Not everyone is very nice about it. On top of having to deal with this at such a young age, she struggles with many different fears. Furthermore, she and her best friend have a big argument partway through the book and go their separate ways.
Parents should know that, ultimately, both of the girls being mean to Rowley do end up softening. One apologizes for everything (which is good, because she was very mocking and rude) and the other is clearly humbled back into kindness after Rowley [respectfully] stands up to her, as a few different people had encouraged her to do.
To protect you from bigger spoilers, I’ll keep the rest vague! Rowley is basically forced to deal with a scary situation. All her imaginings of ghostly activity don’t seem so bad when confronted with actual crime and bad guys. She’s treated roughly by one of them, but the scene is pretty short. (I’m happy to give more spoilers in a direct message if you need.)
It was satisfying to watch Rowley become more confident. She overcame various fear issues, stood up to bullies, and found a new friend with a similar cleft palate journey. She and her best friend had a sweet reconciliation, teaching her the power of forgiveness and kindness.
The lack of good parenting in some (note: not all) of the scenes irked me. The four parents (from the two main families) were strangely flat characters that I wish had been a little more involved.
Do I recommend this to your middle grade readers? That depends. Not all bully behavior was apologized for—will that encourage your child to try to get away with similar conduct? How do they handle scary scenes? Fantasy bad guys is one thing, but realistic criminals is a totally different kind of intensity. Basically, the choice is up to you. 😉 It may be a fun little “spooky” story your family ends up loving. Use the above info or let me know if you have more questions.
Hope this review helps!