Middle-Grade Review: The Secret Winners Club (Donna Galanti)

In Brownsville, New York, we meet three students whose lives intersect even though they are very different and have varied interests. Sunny, who has alopecia, lives in a manufactured home park with her single father who runs a scrapyard, and is determined to win the school Junkbot competition. Her friend and neighbor Trev lives with his waitress mother, and his father who has left the family for a while but has returned. Both Trev and his father suffer from varying degrees of psoriasis. Their friend Vee is active on the swim team and has vitiligo. Trev, who is a big Frank Sinatra fan, wants to win a role in the school production of Grease so that he can hang out with his crush, Elliott, a big baseball star. The three friends put together a club to help them get motivated to make their dreams become reality. They make up a list of rules, challenge themselves to take risks, and call their group “The Secret Winners Club”. They all need to consult someone who excels in their field to get advice to help them. Sunny talks to former Junkbot champion Chrissy, who works at the same diner as Trev’s mother. Chrissy shares some of her expertise, but refuses to talk to Sunny after Sunny appears to be stealing her ideas. Trev talks to fellow dancer Jake, who agrees to help Trev practice for the audition. Vee looks up the record holder for her swim event. Ruby Janik set the record in 1963, when she was Vee’s age, and agrees to talk to Vee, inviting her in for cocoa, and even agrees to coach her. Sunny has a partner in the competition, Jolie, who is very quiet. She lives in a nicer neighborhood adjacent to the shed where the club meets, and is caught eavesdropping on them. She tells them that she struggles with celiac disease, and would like to join their club. She is also a talented wood worker, although Sunny is reluctant to use her skills in constructing their Junkbot. The group meets regularly and celebrates their successes with the delicious (and gluten free) treats that Sunny’s Dad makes. Trev wins a role in the play, and Jake admits that he has a crush on Trev, but Trev doesn’t respond well. Trev also makes peace with a boy who has bullied him after Will, his understudy, admits that his father is in the Navy and never gets to see him perform. Sunny gets in trouble for copying someone else’s design, and must finally rely on Jolie’s help. Vee’s swimming improves, and she breaks Ruby’s record, although the victory isn’t as sweet as she had hoped. Jolie has a fall in her workshop that imperils the Junkbot competition, and the mobile home park floods at a critical juncture. Will The Secret Winners Club be able to reach their goals despite the many setbacks they face?