Review Detail

Just Like Jackie

Middle Grade Fiction 190

Multigenerational Problem Novel

April 10, 2018 (Updated: July 01, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

Robinson lives with her grandfather Charlie in a small town in Vermont. It's always been just the two of them. One boy at school, Alex, gives her a hard time, never calling her the name that she wants to be called (never Robin, sometimes Robbie) and making fun of the fact that she looks very little like her African-American grandfather. After she hits Alex yet again, she gets sent to group counseling, which Alex attends as well. Many of the children in the group are not happy about the latest school assignment, a family tree, because they don't have a lot of information about their families, or are dealing with serious family issues such as divorce or illness. Robbie is dealing with Charlie's worsening dementia. He runs the local car repair business, and luckily has a good assistant, Harold, to watch out for him. Harold, however, is very busy with the new baby daughter than he and his partner Paul have adopted, so Robbie tries to cover her grandfather's condition up as best she can. When she can no longer do this, she finally gets the help she needs.

Good Points

This was a quick and oddly compelling read. So many students have family tree type assignments, and they always worry me for the very reasons mentioned in the story! It is interesting that Robbie and her grandfather don't look alike, and the back stories about the grandmother and mother ring true. This had a Patricia MacLachlan feel to it, with a touch of Miracles on Maple Hill.

While this is a sad book, it is at least a hopeful one which is filled with supportive characters. Readers who love the bittersweetness of Tyre's Hope in the Holler, McAnulty's The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl or Springstubb's Every Single Second will appreciate the sense of community in the small Vermont town and the cast of quirky but endearing characters.