Review Detail

Kyle Finds Her Way

Middle Grade Fiction 207

Middle School Drama

September 14, 2016 (Updated: June 29, 2026)

Overall rating

3.0

Plot

3.0

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

Kyle has a rocky start to her 7th grade year when she punches a kid in the stomach in gym during tai chi. Ino was taking the hearing aid from a new girl, so he gets two weeks of garbage duty as punishment, and Kyle is remanded to the teacher in charge of the NAVS team, which competes to solve a problem. Kyle is okay with this, especially since cute new English boy, Reed, is part of the group. However, she has a lot of trouble telling the truth to her parents about things. They ground her, but she wants to go to a NAVS planning session, so she lies to her. They catch her. She gets on the wrong bus on purpose, insults her mother's cooking, and generally acts in an untrustworthy manner. She is also having trouble with her two best friends for various reasons. She continues to take part in the NAVS team even though her parents have told her she can't. Eventually, they find out, and Kyle has to decide what her values are, and how she can win back her parents' trust.

Good Points

There were a lot of good, realistic moments in this. Kyle's family is strong-- her family eats dinner together most nights and she is close to her twin brother who is in a lower grade because of a possible developmental delay. Kyle's impulse control and poor choices are very typical. The cover is attractive, and the story is generally upbeat. I liked that Kyle was involved in activities.

Kyle was realistically annoying. While I found it hard to believe that she would have been allowed to wear her beloved blue fedora to school, or that the principal would have "punished" her for assaulting another student by making her do an activity, she had a lot of personality and is certainly a character that can actually be found in every middle school.

This is a book that will circulate well with readers who like stories that involve middle school drama such as Lopez' Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel, Dairman's All Four Stars, Dee's Truth or Dare, and anything by Lauren Myracle or Leslie Margolis.