JUST LIKE THAT

When unthinkable tragedy strikes, Meryl Lee Kowalski’s parents send her to a girls preparatory school while the war in Vietnam continues to rage overseas.

Schmidt returns to Hicksville, Long Island, the setting of The Wednesday Wars (2007), but only briefly. A beloved friend—maybe more than a friend?—dies in a tragic accident, and Meryl Lee is consumed with grief that she terms the Blank. Unable to fathom returning to Camillo Junior High for her eighth grade year, Meryl Lee doesn’t protest when her parents decide to send her away to St. Elene’s Preparatory Academy for Girls in Maine. There, she is challenged by headmistress Dr. MacKnockater to discover what she will become accomplished in. Meryl Lee juggles this charge with navigating obstacles like snobby classmates and persnickety teachers, all the while trying to keep the Blank from overwhelming her. Meanwhile, Dr. MacKnockater takes in Matt Coffin, a mysterious boy whose dangerous past follows him everywhere he goes. Matt’s decidedly Dickensian storyline intersects with Meryl Lee’s as she makes friends in unlikely places and unwittingly begins to break down the classist social structures within St. Elene’s storied walls. Alternating between poignant moments of humor, melancholy, and occasional suspense, Schmidt's book sensitively explores the various ways grief has of bringing people together. Most characters are White.

Offers solace and hard-earned hope in the face of heartbreaking loss.