What Happened to Rachel Riley?

As the new girl at her Madison, Wis., middle school, Anna Hunt isn’t surprised to be sitting alone in the cafeteria. But another eighth grader—Rachel Riley— is too, and when Anna finds that Rachel used to be one of the grade’s most popular girls, she wants to know what happened. Anna, who wants to be “the next Sarah Koenig,” frames her investigation as a podcast, hoping to apply to a summer camp with the results: an exploration of “bullying. Social classes.... A middle school caste system.” But no one will talk, not even Rachel, who admits she knows the reason behind her being ostracized. In a quietly suspenseful book, Swinarksi (The Kate in Between) uses Anna’s emails with her beloved Polish grandmother, as well as her thoughts and interactions at home and school, to give readers a good sense of the 12-year-old, who’s a year younger than her classmates, and happier reading than socializing. Amid universal discouragement, Anna keeps asking awkward questions, eventually garnering help from classmates and her computer-genius older sister. With a slow reveal, the novel shows how frequently written-off behavior can constitute sexual harassment, and how individuals can create change by having the courage to question the narrative. Most characters read as white. Ages 8–12. (Jan.)