THE TOTALLY TRUE STORY OF GRACIE BYRNE

An old journal gives a teen the ability to control the narrative of her life—but at what cost?

Gracie is a lover of words and stories. Her imagined life on the page is so much more appealing than her real one. Reality means divorced parents and a new start in Pittsburgh as she begins her junior year of high school, now that Alzheimer’s disease prevents Katherine, her maternal grandmother, from living alone. Gracie, while idly exploring Katherine’s vanity, discovers a velvet-covered journal. Unable to resist the lure of its blank pages, she begins penning her stories there—and soon realizes that the stories are moving beyond the pages and into the real world. What initially seems like a boon has unexpected ramifications: Having seen how Alzheimer’s disease has affected Katherine’s memories, Gracie belatedly realizes the impact her stories are having on those around her. She grapples with whether a developing romance is genuine or the artificial result of her stories. Takaoka skillfully portrays teen interactions, as well as the messiness and love of family members caring for a relative with Alzheimer’s disease. She grounds readers in Gracie’s 1987 world, from an immersive midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show to Orange Juliuses at the local mall, landline phones, and Aqua Net. Main characters are cued white.

A warmhearted story that will resonate with anyone who has ever dreamed of reinventing themselves.