Nicole Melleby

Winnie is both blessed and cursed, with the blessing being her awareness and comfort about being gay. She's known she likes girls for as long as she can remember. Unfortunately, her curses overshadow that self-awareness. Things like not knowing why her parents hide things from her and want her to refrain from talking about certain things now that she's spending the summer with her grandmother while they 'figure things out.'
Asking a twelve year old to keep things secret when the responsible adults can't seem to hold things together is asking a lot, but Winnie does her best, even though the increasing stress of doing so leaves her feeling like a pressure cooker on high heat.
Fortunately, there are new people in her life including some of the older folks she meets at the senior center where Gram spends time each afternoon. While reluctant, Winnie becomes part of the book discussion group and one of the other members begins giving her books. Winnie's uneasy around the woman after that person spots her at a local pride parade where her mother's best friend has taken her. Then, there are Pippa and Lucia, two girls near her age who make friends with Winnie. Even so, it's an uneasy summer with her having to constantly worry about her mother's health and what she can or can't say around her grandmother.
There are several critical moments for Winnie...Coming out to her new friends, the moment she makes an impulsive decision and hurts Pippa in the process, and her realization that the emotional and physical support she desperately needs might be closer than she realized. This is a great story about making it through the mess of families and the resilience of friendship. It's a strong read for gay tweens, as well as those who feel like the burden for keeping their family from fragmenting is on their shoulders… (altro)

Pluto is struggling. She missed the last 34 days of school because she couldn't get out of bed. Dealing with a new diagnosis of anxiety and depression, she just wants to be her old self without knowing how to get there. She's angry, tired, and just want to be left along. During the summer she must go with her mom to their pizzeria on the Jersey Shore boardwalk. It's a struggle for everyone. Fallon, a new friend with a list and problems to deal with of her own, is a bright spot. It's a painful read with lots of angst, confusion, and attempts to find a way forward. Pluto has lots of supports around her. Her mom is unsure how to help but enlists other folks to build a web of support around Pluto.… (altro)

I honestly thought I would not enjoy this book because I am highly religious and do not condone that lifestyle. That said, as a mom, grandmother and former teacher, I do understand the struggle that teens (Bri) faced throughout the book. Wanting to belong. Wanting to find love. Wanting to succeed. Wanting to be heard. Wanting her family, especially her mom, to love her for HER and understand who SHE really was. There were so many great characters in the book, from the Catholic teachers who had her best interests at heart, a great best friend who always had her back, a brother that would get in trouble to help her out, and a daddy that would go to the moon and back to make her dreams come true, even if he had to work several jobs to do so. I would have liked to have known more about Kennedy's viewpoint and more of her family background. I felt like the one scene where Brie's mom rapidly forgave Brie after "the accident" was unbelievable, since the mom's track record was yelling and/or the silent treatment on a lot of issues. I was hoping for another ending to the crowning of Mary, but the story did end on a high note, which I always love! I also kind of understood Brie's obsession with soap operas. When I was younger, my sister and I would go stay with my dad's mom. My grandma's guilty pleasures were soap operas and drinking her Diet Pepsi while watching them and shelling peas and butterbeans. I can still see that image to this day in my brain! My mom never really approved of soap operas, so that was the only time we ever got to watch them. Later on, I did watch for a while, but I ended up working for many years during those TV hours, and if I wasn't, I was raising small children. The story had a lot of internal and external struggles. I do think many middle schoolers would relate to Brie on some level. If the reader learns nothing else, it should be to express yourself and to be true to yourself.… (altro)