Koya Delaney hides behind her smile and cannot express her feelings--until she is caught in the middle when a fight erupts between her sister and her best friend just before her pop star cousin comes to town to do a concert.

00000918

Koya loves to laugh and hates to be angry, so when she deals with things that make her angry, she doesn't know how to handle them. When Koya's sister is betrayed by a friend, she doesn't want to take sides, and suddenly everyone is angry with her. Koya begins to feel angry but keeps repressing it, and she needs to figure out how to work through her problems. ( )

Koya Delaney loves making people laugh! But as she faces tension in her family and pressure at school, Koya finds out that laughing off her problems won't always work. What's a good girl to do?

This delight from veteran author Eloise Greenfield features an important message for anyone whose voice feels shaky, or who runs fast away from conflict in their daily lives. With round characters--including a host of strong Black women--Greenfield deftly takes us into Koya's world. Emotionally honest and insightful the whole way through, we feel Koya's love for her musician cousin Del, her excitement at his visit to the Delaney family, her uneasiness at her friends' jealousy of Del's visit, her resilience and angst when it drives her sister away from her, and so much else--and all in just 2 weeks of Koya's life. Greenfield's characters pop right off the page, and we feel the community around Koya, strong and tight-knit. Eloise Greenfield has written a marvel of a novel that children from all backgrounds can love and learn from, and without diluting the importance of teh setting: in a middle class Black neighborhood that could be just down the street or a hundred miles away, or right at home in the imagination of a young reader. ( )