Tag Archives: Coming of Age

Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt

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Set in 1968, following the death of her best friend, Meryl Lee Kowalski goes off to St. Elene’s Preparatory Academy for Girls. Here she struggles to fit in with her wealthy, tight-knit classmates, with grief heavy on her heart. With pressure from her instructors to work toward’s their “Accomplishment” for the year. Feeling inferior in all things, Meryl Lee can’t imagine what her Accomplishment will be.

In a sub-plot, Matt Coffin, seemingly family-less, is on the run from thugs and needs a friend, too. Their lives intertwine as they both search for meaning in their lives in this coming-of-age story, rich with lyrical writing, references to literary works and humor, this book would make a great read-aloud.

Your Destination is on the Left

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In this coming of age novel, we meet Dessa Rhodes, a teen whose family live a nomadic life-style traveling in a caravan of RVs with a communal group of friends. One of the friends is a teenaged boy, Cyprus, who Dessa has had a crush on for a long time. She’s worried about what a romance could do to their families’ relationship if the romance did not work out.

Dessa is an inspiring and talented artist who wants to leave the road behind and instead attend art school. But she can’t get accepted anywhere. And if she ever did, how would she pay for it?

An unexpected opportunity presents itself and she has to decide if she is going to leave the road, her family, and Cyrus, to pursue her dreams of becoming an artist, or stay with the ones she loves.

 

The Three Rules of Everyday Magic

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Kate Mitchell has a lot going on in her young life – a father who disappeared when his depression became too much, a grammy that is moving into the shadows of dementia and a friendship that is falling apart. This story is told in Kate’s voice as she struggles to understand and, perhaps, fix the pain in her life. Grammy talks of the Three Rules of Magic that Kate hopes can help ‘fix’ her life: Believe in magic or it won’t work, give magic to people you love, and trust the magic to work.

While the magic doesn’t necessarily work in the way Kate expects, it leads to a new friendship, a return to music and a closeness to her mother. Grammy is with them and life will be different and perhaps her father will climb out of his depression and come home to them (she did leave some magic outside his apartment door – the last hat her grammy knitted and Kate’s heartfelt notes from the the last several months).

While this novel deals with some heavy subjects like depression, dementia and their effects on family in a fairly simple way, it seems very appropriate for a middle grade reader. It is written from Kate’s point of view and the her understanding of those difficult parts appears to be aligned with a typical child of that age. Her feelings of abandonment, hurt and eventual empowerment and acceptance will resonate with readers, some who might be dealing with some of the same issues themselves. Recommended

Truth or Dare

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This coming-of-age story is funny and realistic, and it deals with issues that tween girls face today.

Lia Rollins’ mother was killed in a car accident. The other driver was busy texting when he collided with her mother’s car. Lia is still grieving her mother and refuses to use a cell phone. Lia is part of a group of friends who have known each other since childhood. All of the girls are growing up and hitting puberty at different times. The changes – physical and emotional – take their toll on this once tightly knit group of friends.There is a lot of talk about getting your period, cramps, and wearing a bra. The girls are starting to notice boys, too. Most of Lia’s friends are starting summer vacation by attending the same camp. Lia chooses not to go, but to stay with her aunt Shelby, her mother’s sister, instead of attending summer camp with her friends. When summer is over and the girls return to school, there is tension in the air. The girls are growing up and going their separate ways based on interest and, in some cases, based on poor treatment of one another. Identities are being discovered and shaped, girls are pushing each other’s buttons, and their once strong friendship is fragmenting. Lia is at a crossroads with her friends and her feelings about herself, growing up and letting go. Lia’s family turns out to be a stronger support system than she realized,  Lia discovers the meaning of friendship, and Lia learns that bodies change on their own schedule. Lia finally decides to get a cell phone and discovers that moving on doesn’t necessarily mean letting go.  

Here’s How I See It, Here’s How It Is

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Every summer, June works at her parents’ theater and dreams of a career on the stage. But this year is different: her mother has moved in with her grandmother and June is living with her father and older sister. June’s mother doesn’t seem to think her daughter’s aspirations are realistic – June really is just a gopher even though her father was a “real” actor (one appearance on Broadway). June’s biggest problem is learning to deal with life and how to talk to the people around her about her life.

 

Each chapter begins with June’s thoughts – about her fantasy – how she sees it – and reality – how it is. An interesting device that reflects June’s desire for her broken family to be fixed and what she dreams of doing with her life; students who enjoy Wendy Maas and Sharon Creech should enjoy this one. No sex, no language, could go as low as 7th-8th grade.