NOT IF I CAN HELP IT

Change is hard for most people, but it’s especially tough for Willa.

She and her best friend, Ruby, are very different. Willa is 11, white, book-loving, tall, and vegetarian, and she unashamedly loves LEGOs and dogs. Ruby is (a smidge) younger, short, sporty, Indian-American, lactose intolerant, and anxious. Willa also has sensory processing disorder, but she staunchly prefers to keep that side of herself “private,” just among family. They are in the same fifth-grade class, and they initially connected over a love of gummy bears. They also both happen to have divorced parents. Now Willa’s dad and Ruby’s mom tell the girls they’ve been dating for some time, and they’re “sure [they’re] in love.” Despite what everyone else says, Willa knows this is “terrible, terrible news!” She already has to cope with the upcoming move to middle school, and now this. Willa’s family is comfortably off, and she has solid support in her corner from professionals, family, and friends. Mackler describes the way Willa experiences the world so that readers intimately perceive how it feels in her body. Refreshingly, the adult characters treat the children as mature, capable people, including them in decisions. There are also ringing truths to life as a kid of divorced parents that lay no blame and connect emotionally. The story focuses on working through tough changes, even when it is hard.

A quality, truthful portrayal of the general challenges that come with different experiences of the world, whether personal or familial.