BRIARCLIFF PREP

In this follow-up to the 2022 series opener, a Black teen struggles with anxiety while she’s away from home at a Georgia boarding school.

After Avielle and her sister, Belle, were physically attacked by Belle’s ex-boyfriend, their father declared a Summer of Survival Instincts for the entire family. In addition to boxing, Avi took weightlifting, driving, and self-defense courses. Now, after what she thinks of as her “summer of torture,” she’s eager to return to Briarcliff Prep for sophomore year. As a first-year student, Avi started to discover her independence, but now she’s consumed with worry. She experiences panic attacks and night terrors, and she’s more forgetful than ever before. Plus her relationships with both Quincy, her ex, and her best friends are in trouble. But Avi has an idea for a student lifestyle magazine unique to the experience of students at Historically Black Boarding Schools, a project that she hopes will be a creative outlet not just for herself but for all the girls at Briarcliff as well as students at Preston, the boys’ school next door. When the pressure of juggling everything gets to be too much, Avi is diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and must decide if medication is the right choice for her. The book’s major strength is in how mental health care is portrayed: Peppins thoughtfully unpacks stigmas around medication while also exploring other options, including therapy and grounding techniques.

A satisfying series entry with affirming mental health representation.