Every Shiny Thing

January 1, 2018

Gr 5-9-This dual narrative shifts the point of view between Lauren, in prose, and Sierra, in verse. Sierra has just been placed in foster care in Lauren's rather wealthy neighborhood after her mother was arrested. Lauren is missing her brother, who was recently sent to a special boarding school for kids on the autism spectrum. She is also outgrowing the relationship with her best friend and neighbor, Ashley. Lauren's social conscience has been awakened, and as she realizes that many do not have the resources she has, she decides to make a concerted effort to welcome Sierra. The two form a bond; but when Lauren comes up with a plan for raising money that involves theft, albeit for a good cause, Sierra becomes understandably anxious because she has a lot to lose. This unique story of friendship features two striving yet flawed main characters. Sierra is close to her mom, though she often has to take on the role of parent in their relationship. Lauren's examination of her privilege is admirable. Her Robin Hood scheme is not. The depiction of her growing compulsion to steal/shoplift is absorbing and suspense ratchets up with each theft as the stakes rise. Thoughtful readers will find a lot to like here-sadness, suspense, even humor. They may even pause to consider their own privilege. VERDICT Great for fans of dual narratives or books like Lynda Mullaly Hunt's One for the Murphys.-Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2018
Two authors combine their efforts to relate the intertwined tales of a pair of young teens in trouble.Sierra's first-person voice spills out of the pages in verse. With her alcoholic mother serving time in jail, she's placed in the home of a loving, well-to-do interracial couple, Anne and Carl, whose daughter died years before. Lauren lives right next door. Her older, autistic brother has recently been enrolled at a therapeutic boarding school, and she's deeply resentful of her parents' well-meaning (if distancing) handling of his issues. In response, she decides to raise money to treat less-wealthy kids with autism, an outstanding intent followed by poor management. First, she sells expensive gifts she's received. She also begins to steal her parents' things to sell, but after getting caught, she moves on to the belongings of friends and neighbors as well as to shoplifting. Unfortunately, she implicates Sierra, whom she's tenderly befriended, in her activities by storing the proceeds in Anne and Carl's deceased child's bedroom. Lauren's more complicated and disturbing tale is related in her first-person prose narrative, the two writing styles clearly delineating the two white seventh-graders. Sierra emerges the more sympathetic of the pair, with Lauren's unattractive behavior (or compulsion) never fully understandable, perhaps even to her.Many of the complications of human behavior are on display here, some of them painful to navigate. (Fiction. 11-14)

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January 1, 2019
Wanting to raise money for needy children with autism, well-off seventh grader Lauren (whose older brother is autistic) begins selling items--even stealing them to do so--and eventually drags her new friend, foster kid Sierra, into the scheme. Readers who can overlook Lauren's contrived descent into lawlessness should enjoy the honest alternating narratives (Lauren's is prose, Sierra's is in verse) about the boundaries of friendship.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)