It’s Elementary

Shady dealings at a California elementary school propel this frothy adult debut from YA author Bryant (Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling). Overextended mom Mavis Miller has been roped into heading the new DEI committee at Knoll Elementary. Cornered into accepting the position by relentlessly peppy PTA president Trisha Holbrook, Mavis—one of the school’s few Black parents—has resolved to set aside any resentments and make an impact however she can. At Mavis’s first PTA meeting after accepting the position, Knoll’s new principal, Thomas Smith, announces that the school will be cutting ties with a district-wide gifted program, causing Trisha to lash out. Later in the evening, Mavis spots Trisha fumbling with heavy trash bags, rubber gloves, and a bottle of bleach as she leaves the school. The next morning, Principal Smith is nowhere to be found. Mavis immediately suspects Trisha of foul play, and joins forces with Knoll’s hunky school psychologist, Jack Cohen, to get to the bottom of the principal’s disappearance; in the process, they uncover class tensions seething beneath the school’s shiny facade. Bryant throws a few too many suspects into the mix, but Mavis is so endearing, and her chemistry with Jack so strong, that readers won’t mind. This deserves a sequel. Agent: Taylor Haggerty, Root Literary. (July)