Recommended Ages: Gr. 4-7

Plot Summary: Calli, the third child in her family, is tired of her family. She doesn't like the pressure to excel at an activity, which she still hasn't found after trying about 10 different extra curriculars. Calli doesn't like the ABC game at family dinner where they list their accomplishments from the day in ABC order (Alex, Becca, Calli). When Calli is dragged to her brother's basketball games, she ignores her dad's constant yelling and cheering (at one point even challenging another parent to take it outside) and instead notices the little things, like the trees outside. At Becca's ice skating practice, Calli notices a boy laying under the hockey game table. She tries to talk to him but he doesn't respond. Before Calli has a chance to find the kid's family, she is ushered out of the rink. During school, her teacher explains they will be peer mentoring with a second grade class. Tanya immediately chooses her cousin, and Calli speaks up when she sees Noah. At first, she is worried because Noah sits under his table, doesn't participate in the activity, and doesn't talk. Calli makes Noah laugh, and slowly he opens up to her. They are asked to make a booth for the friendship fair. Will Calli and Noah be able to create their booth in time? Will Calli's family be able to attend or will they be too busy with her siblings events?

Setting: "Southbrook," Chicago suburb

Characters:
Calli - 11 yo, not allowed to stay home alone until she is 11.5 y/o, much more introverted than her family
Alex - freshman, told Calli when she was 5 that cheerleaders were silly and she should have higher aspirations but has since become a teen who enjoys eye candy
Becca - 13 y/o, loud, clumsy, has the teenage snippiness
Mom - Gold Chief Family Organizer, AKA CFO, AKA Karen,
Dad - AKA Larry, inappropriately loud and involved at his kids events, was pretty ordinary himself and is pushing his family not to be ordinary
Joel Gold - Larry's little brother, played basketball, got the girls, straight As
Marjorie - Larry's sister, free spirited, in New Zealand
Ruthless - Becca's tough ice skating coach
Noah Zullo - 2nd grader, autistic
Wanda and Claire - Calli's best friends since Kindergarten
Tanya Timley - tallest girl in Calli's class, not always in school because she models, very stuck up and loud about it
Liza and Gary - improv teachers
Grandma Gold - lives nearby and babysits sometimes, loud

Recurring Themes: family, perfection, winning it all, misfit in the family, scheduling, friendship, extra-curricular activities, friendship fair, secrets, expectations, winning

Controversial Issues: none

Personal Thoughts: I enjoyed this story. I wonder if it will be appealing to/understood by students in all SES because the expectations for Calli are very high and seem very North Shore Jewish to me. (I'm from the same area as Calli.) I think Calli's emotions are real and authentic. I am shocked at her dad's actions during the basketball games. How has he not been kicked out by the coaches yet for his ridiculous yelling and cheering, but especially for threatening a parent to take it outside. I like the theme of "winning" in this book, because the dad pushes it even though the kids don't particularly care if they win.

Genre: Realistic fiction

Pacing: medium, well written and keeps the story moving but not too much action, Calli's action is more internal
Characters: very well developed
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity: ( )

Calli Gold is the C in her ABC siblings, and she feels like a C -- average and nothing important. She is not an A like Alex, her hockey star brother. She's not even a B, like her skating champion sister. This would be okay, except Calli's parents want her to be "Gold." They push her to join groups hoping to find her passion, when all Calli wants to do is be herself.

Who can't relate to this? Whether the idea that you disappointed someone is all in your head, or like Calli, sadly true, it is important to know that the only person you need to be sure not to disappoint is yourself. Great message, though a little too big of character shifts in the rest of the family for me to believe it. ( )

Enjoyable middle-grade novel with an appealing protagonist. ( )

erful story about a 5th grade girl, Callie, in a family of overachievers. She has no special talent, no special passion--but is just a nice, compassionate person. If only her family would realize it's not always about what you do, but about who you are. Hopefully Callie will enlighten them . . .

Great writing, great story, moved well -- highly recommended for 3rd to 5th grade girls. I'm passing it on to my daughter right now. ( )

Sometimes I think realistic middle grade fiction is nothing but an endless list of How-not-to-parent-your-children examples. This is no particular reflection on this particular book, which I liked very much, just that there are sooooo many parents out there in fiction land who Should Know Better. Actually, there appear to be a lot in real life too, the stories I could tell...

Anyways, Calli Gold has the over-scheduled type of parents. All three of their children must have a passion and be doing something constantly. Calli, the youngest, is tired of being pushed into constant activities to find her passion and talent, which she is pretty sure she doesn’t have. She doesn’t feel like part of the Gold family – and sometimes she’s not sure she wants to be.

But then the Gold’s perfect, over-scheduled life starts showing a few cracks. Calli realizes her parents aren’t the perfect, happy, fulfilled people she always thought they were. Her older sister (who is, quite frankly, a nasty person and needs a hefty thwack on the head) turns out to not be the perfect overachiever either (although this doesn’t make her a nicer person) and her older brother shows some unexpected kindness. Calli herself has found something she really cares about; Noah, a second grader who has some issues. Calli is determined to stick with him for their class project no matter what and in the end she discovers that she does have a special and important talent.

I would like to digress here to mention my complete lack of patience with the “they’re going through a phase/growing up is hard” school of excuses for nasty older teen siblings. Just because you are suffering teen angst and you’re related to someone doesn’t mean you can take out your problems on your younger siblings. I actually see this a lot, just observing families. The older kids can call their younger siblings nasty names and poke them or whatever, and the parents just sigh and ignore them. Grr. Ok, digression over.

Every time I thought the story was going to slide into stereotypes, it popped around a corner and surprised me. There are a lot of tropes here that will grab readers; the underdog who is ultimately successful, the kid nobody thinks is important or good at anything who turns out to have a talent, the perfect family that develops some problems and then works through them. Hurwitz’ writing is steady and strong and she develops her characters and situations with enough familiarity to draw kids in and enough plot twists and turns to keep them reading. I look forward to more stories from this debut author!

Verdict: This is different enough from your usual “real girls in school and with their families” middle grade books to add to your collection even if you have a large number of these books. Especially recommended to girls with overachieving parents and older siblings….Recommended!

ISBN: 9780385739702; Published April 5, 2011; ARC provided by publisher at ALA Midwinter; Purchased for my library.