Review Detail

Hannah is sad when her best friend Sophie moves to Canada, and she's not happy when the girl who moves in next door is wearing the same shirt she has on, has the same birthday, and likes peanut butter but hates pizza! In addition to missing her best friend, Hannah is upset because her step mom, Margo, who is soon adopting her, is having a baby. Emme isn't happy about moving from a warm island to a cold, landlocked place, and she's unhappy when her cat Butterball goes missing... and ends up at Hannah's house. When school starts, Hannah's year is going smoothly, but Emme is stuck with a difficult teacher as well as mean girls in her class. Eventually, Hannah and Emme become friends because they both love to swim and embrace their differences. Hannah is instrumental in telling Emme's two mothers about Emme's difficulties at school, which results in Emme being moved to another class. The two have their ups and downs, especially when they go to winter camp with Sophie, and Emme and Sophie hit it off, much to Hannah's consternation. Fifth grade is a difficult year, with lots of drama, but in the end, the girls end up even better friends.

There's some bullying in this, but it is done in a realistic way. Mean girls in Emme's class make fun of her because she's small, but always in a joking way, quietly and behind the teacher's back. There's even an anti-bullying assembly; those are a real thing, although I doubt they do any good at all. The fact that Emme has two mother's is very matter of fact, and Hannah's difficulty in accepting the new baby is realistic for this age group. It’s great to see realistically portrayed characters, and this seemed very true-to-life to me.

It was also nice that this was generally upbeat. There are a few sad moments (Butterball becomes ill for a brief time), but nothing that will depress middle grade readers, which is fantastic!

Fans of Leslie Margolis, Lisa Papdemetriou, Naylor’s The Agony of Alice and Lowry’s Anastasia Krupnik will enjoy this amusing story of cats, friendships, and the small changes that can seem so big to elementary aged readers.