#AmReading Middle Grades

Dear Sweet Pea
Julie Murphy
Age/Genre: Middle Grades, Contemporary
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

The first middle grade novel from Julie Murphy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin’ (now a popular Netflix film), is a funny, heartwarming story perfect for fans of Rebecca Stead, Ali Benjamin, and Holly Goldberg Sloan.

Patricia “Sweet Pea” DiMarco wasn’t sure what to expect when her parents announced they were getting a divorce. She never could have imagined that they would have the “brilliant” idea of living in nearly identical houses on the same street. In the one house between them lives their eccentric neighbor Miss Flora Mae, the famed local advice columnist behind “Miss Flora Mae I?”

Dividing her time between two homes is not easy. And it doesn’t help that at school, Sweet Pea is now sitting right next to her ex–best friend, Kiera, a daily reminder of the friendship that once was. Things might be unbearable if Sweet Pea didn’t have Oscar—her new best friend—and her fifteen-pound cat, Cheese.

Then one day Flora leaves for a trip and asks Sweet Pea to forward her the letters for the column. And Sweet Pea happens to recognize the handwriting on one of the envelopes.

What she decides to do with that letter sets off a chain of events that will forever change the lives of Sweet Pea DiMarco, her family, and many of the readers of “Miss Flora Mae I?”

Sweet Pea liked the way things were, but they wouldn't stop changing. First, she lost her best friend, Kiera, to the popular older girls. Then, her parents got divorced, and she was forced to split time between their "mirror" homes. It also seemed as though she was losing her new best friend, Oscar, because she was keeping secrets from him. Sweet Pea had all the answers for everyone else's dilemmas, but could she solve her own problems?

It was love at first page for me and Sweet Pea. This kid was so charming, effervescent, and real, and she stole my heart. Her voice was crystal clear, and I swore I heard the tones of my daughter from middle school in Sweet Pea's narration. She was a fairly average tween dealing with her changing family and friendships, and though it was a bumpy ride, Sweet Pea learned to embrace the change as she changed too.

One of the things I really loved about this book was that Sweet Pea was a plus sized character, but this was not a story about her weight. Every now and again, her confidence dipped, such as when she was dress shopping, but for the most part, her weight was a non-issue in this story. She was not bullied or relentlessly harassed for being overweight, but rather, she was a confident and vibrant young woman, who was rather comfortable in her own skin. I always welcome books, where being yourself is not an "issue", and enjoyed the way Murphy wove this into the story.

I also loved the focus of this book. This was about change, family, forgiveness, and friendship.

Sweet Pea needed to adjust to her parents living apart, to them no longer being a trio, and to her parents having separate lives. I thought her reaction to it all was very authentic, and my heart ached for her as she worked through her emotions.

Friendships are bound to change as we grow older, and that was something Sweet Pea had already experienced following the loss of her ex-bestie, Kiera. An incident brought the two back into amicable contact, and this forced Sweet Pea to learn to balance her old and renewed friendships. She had to look at the needs of others and recognize how her actions hurt them. Sweet Pea learned a LOT about having a friend and being a friend, and I was very proud of how much she grew from the experience.

Once again, Murphy created a beautiful story filled with fantastic characters, which delighted me. The blend of humor, drama, and heartfelt sentiment was perfect and landed Sweet Pea solidly in my heart.

Roll with It
Jamie Sumner
Age/Genre: Middle Grades, Contemporary
Publisher: Atheneum Books
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

The story of an irrepressible girl with cerebral palsy whose life takes an unexpected turn when she moves to a new town.

Ellie’s a girl who tells it like it is. That surprises some people, who see a kid in a wheelchair and think she’s going to be all sunshine and cuddles. The thing is, Ellie has big dreams: She might be eating Stouffer’s for dinner, but one day she’s going to be a professional baker. If she’s not writing fan letters to her favorite celebrity chefs, she’s practicing recipes on her well-meaning, if overworked, mother.

But when Ellie and her mom move so they can help take care of her ailing grandpa, Ellie has to start all over again in a new town at a new school. Except she’s not just the new kid—she’s the new kid in the wheelchair who lives in the trailer park on the wrong side of town. It all feels like one challenge too many, until Ellie starts to make her first-ever friends. Now she just has to convince her mom that this town might just be the best thing that ever happened to them!

Though Ellie was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth, she was fiercely independent. However, after her grandfather's dementia progressed, she and her mother moved to Oklahoma, in order to care for him. As if being the new kid wasn't hard enough, she was also the only one in a wheelchair in a town lacking accessibility. Despite those drawbacks, Ellie began to settle in, and was thinking this could be her new home. All she had to do was convince her mother.

What a wonderful and heartwarming story! I adored Ellie, her wry personality, and her passion for baking. After the move, she could have opted to have a pity party, but instead, she found things to be positive about. She was making friends, she was getting stronger with the help of her very capable gym teacher (Hutch), and she was looking forward to winning the annual pie baking contest. I loved Ellie's attitude, and respected, that her biggest qualm was not that she had CP, but that she had lost a lot of her independence, due to the lack of accessibility.

Ellie was by far the star of this story, but she had a great supporting cast of characters. Her friends, Cora Lee and Bert were wonderfully unique and interesting, but I really loved them, because of what incredible friends they were to her. They embraced Ellie and accepted her, when she had previously spent most of her school life on the outside looking in. It was exciting to see her form these bonds, and I loved their plan to help her "stay forever".

I also thought Ellie and her mom shared a special relationship. Her father had left, when she was young, so it was really only her and her mom. Mom was a bit overprotective, but it came from a place of love, and I think Sumner did a beautiful job showing how difficult it was for her mother to strike that right balance of mothering with the autonomy a child Ellie's age craved.

I can promise you, that at the end of this book, you will have a warm heart, a smile on your face, and a craving for baked goods.

**ARCs received in exchange for honest reviews.

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