Those Kids from Fawn Creek

In this uplifting small-town novel about friendship and identity, Newbery winner Entrada Kelly realistically captures the complex hierarchies of middle school. When new student Orchid Mason joins Venezuela-born Mr. Agosto’s class one November day, the 12 seventh graders can’t help but be excited—Orchid has traveled all over the world, while little changes in Fawn (aka “Yawn”) Creek, Louisiana. Ignoring the small cued-white class’s well-established social hierarchy and garnering disdain from local mean girls, Orchid gravitates toward introverted Dorothy, who longs to connect with her detached parents, and soft-spoken Greyson, who’s struggling with his father’s characterization of him as “soft.” But while Orchid’s stories of life in New York City and Paris enthrall her classmates, her reticence to share much about herself causes her classmates—especially those threatened by Orchid’s popularity—to doubt her claims. Told by alternating narrators who each confess to feeling confined by unrealistic expectations and preconceived roles, this contemporary novel, timely in themes of self-acceptance and bullying, builds on the experiences of the author’s childhood to create a raw, real exploration of belonging that’s also sweetly hopeful. Occasional art by Krampien highlights the setting. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties. (Mar.)