Crashing in Love

August 30, 2021
Jacobson (Small as an Elephant) creates a well-paced blend of mystery and romantic idealism set in mid-coast Maine. Inspired by her collection of self-improvement quotations, 12-year-old narrator Peyton Campbell has plans for her summer all laid out, including trying to find someone who matches her list of “The Top Ten Musts for the Perfect Guy.” But the summer changes when, cycling to her best friend’s house, Peyton spots an unconscious hit-and-run victim around her age and calls 911, then learns that the boy, Gray Olsen, is in a coma. Even before Gray’s mother offers Peyton a job watching over him when she can’t be at the hospital, Peyton becomes certain that she and Gray are destined to be together romantically, and determines to find the person who hit him, despite her divorced parents’ disapproval. Subplots involving Peyton’s fears that she’s losing her best friend, her suspicions about a boy she meets at the hospital, and increasing pressures to end her obsession with Gray’s situation add tension to the story. If the conclusion is perhaps a bit tidy, Peyton emerges as a realistically flawed heroine who learns that well-laid plans don’t always work and truth isn’t always the way one person sees it. Characters default to white. Ages 10–14. Agent: Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Trident Media Group.

September 1, 2021
Twelve-year-old Peyton plays detective after rescuing a hit-and-run victim who she hopes could become her summer boyfriend. It doesn't take Peyton long after finding Gray unconscious to start imagining their would-be romance. It's summer in Mussel Cove, and she's working the beat in the small coastal Maine town, on the hunt for whomever hit and then abandoned Gray, all while he's in the hospital in a coma. Her search for justice teaches her a lot about first impressions and assumptions as she realizes that life lies perplexingly in between black and white. While Jacobson tries to convey some of that complexity, it unfortunately mostly falls flat. Peyton's older sisters feel generic, and her divorced parents hit the obvious tropes. There are flashes of depth, as in the sisters' conversation about what split up their parents and in the moment her father stands up to her unforgiving grandmother. But overall, the story stays on the surface. The suspense around what will happen to Gray and the mystery of who hit him keep the plot plodding along, but everything is resolved almost too quickly in the end. Jacobson succeeds, however, at writing Peyton as a believable tween girl with age-appropriate concerns, friends, and interests. The main characters are presumed White; cues such as a name or hairstyle may be intended to identify background characters of color. A middle-of-the-road coming-of-age mystery. (Mystery. 9-12)

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September 15, 2021
Grades 5-8 Almost 13-year-old Peyton is facing a dull summer. Her best friend, Mari, will be away all summer, putting an end to their various plans. On the way to Mari's house to say goodbye, however, Peyton sees what at first seems to be a pile of clothes lying on the road but on further inspection turns out to be an injured boy about her age. The boy, Gray, then lies in a coma in the hospital, and Peyton divides her time between sitting beside his bed and talking to him, at his parents' request, and trying to discover who hit him. Peyton is devoted to self-motivation, and her first-person narrative is appropriately crisp and peppy, and the characters around her are vivid and bright, from her struggling journalist mother to her laid-back father and manipulative paternal grandmother. She is disappointed when her daydream about Gray and who he actually turns out to be don't match, but the truth jars her into reevaluating who she is and wants to be and forces her to step out of fantasy and into the real world.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2021

Gr 4 Up-Inspirational quotes paper the walls of Peyton's bedroom in the coastal Maine house she lives in with her aspiring journalist mother and two older sisters. Always striving to be a better person, Peyton is positive that with the right attitude, anything is possible. With a little more effort, maybe her parents wouldn't have gotten divorced. Twelve-year-old Peyton is also positive that this is the summer she'll get her first boyfriend; in fact, she has created a list of all the qualities her future boyfriend should embody. Riding her bike one morning she finds a boy in the road, victim of a hit-and-run accident. So sure is Peyton that this comatose boy is the boy of her dreams, she devotes her summer to sitting with him in the ICU and trying to solve the mystery of who was driving the car responsible for the accident. Things don't go exactly as planned. Peyton's summer of romance turns out to be one of growth and understanding-understanding what led to her parent's divorce as well as why her best friend has become estranged. Although Peyton does find a potential boyfriend and solve the mystery of who was driving, these accomplishments come with the realization that life is messy and problems can't be solved with inspirational quotes. All of the primary characters are cued as white. While the focus of the story is Peyton's relationship with family members and friends, secondary issues of class differences are subtly addressed. VERDICT A heartwarming and remarkably poignant story of a girl navigating the sometimes painful process of growing up. A solid choice for middle grade readers.-Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's Sch., Brooklyn

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