I’ve got a handful of backlogged middle grade reviews I haven’t posted yet, so I decided to combine them into one omnibus post!

In the Beautiful Country, by Jane Kuo

In the Beautiful Country, by Jane Kuo, follows Anna, a 10-year-old Taiwanese girl who moves to America with her parents in 1980. Told in verse from Anna’s perspective, it shows her perspective leading up to the move, and then her experiences of actually living in the United States while her parents run a restaurant.

There are quite a few things to enjoy about this book. Anna is sweet and clever and spends most of the book just trying to reconcile her preconceptions about what life in America would be like. Her voice feels very young and realistic as she tries to make sense of the racism, bullying, and poverty that she is experiencing for the first time.

I really enjoyed reading how her view of things changes from when she’s about to move to America, when she arrives, and then her experiences as she acclimates more to the country. Her changes in perspective feel very natural and real.

Books in verse often just aren’t for me, and I found that to be the case here as well. I wish that there had been more to the book; it feels like it ends very abruptly, and I just wish there was more content to the story, which I think might have been achieved if it had been told in prose, which would have allowed for more detail.

This book also felt to me to read a lot younger than most other middle-grade books, which may just be the difference between a 10-year-old protagonist and a 12-13-year-old protagonist. One big issue that I had with the book, which might just be a result of that, was that none of the other characters (who are primarily adults due to Anna having a hard time making friends) have any real distinct personalities; every character feels very bland, which makes the story as a whole feel relatively uninteresting. This is likely just a result of how children don’t perceive adults in a lot of depth, but it did make for a less-enjoyable reading experience.

Overall, I think this book is a good choice for upper-elementary and lower-middle-grade readers. It discusses a lot of topics, such as racism, xenophobia, bullying, and hate crimes that are important for children to start to learn about, so learning about them through the lens of somebody their age would likely be fruitful. I wouldn’t really say that it has a ton of appeal outside of that age range, but would still definitely recommend it if somebody were looking for a story that covers similar topics. It covers a lot of serious topics in a way that’s easy for children to understand, and has an overall uplifting tone despite the seriousness of its contents. Overall, I’m giving In the Beautiful Country 3/5 stars in terms of my enjoyment of it, but 4.5/5 stars in terms of what I think somebody in the right age range could get out of it.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Anne: An Adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (Sort of), by Kathleen Gros

Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorite books ever and it has such good potential for queer retellings, so I’m always hoping to find the perfect book to fill that void. I was hoping this would be it, but unfortunately found that it missed the mark for me.

This book follows Anne, a foster child whose new foster family is two siblings who run the Avon-Lea apartment complex. There, she meets Diana and they become fast friends. As Anne navigates starting at a new school, joining the zine club, and conflict with a boy named Gilbert over a school project, she also begins to struggle with her feelings for Diana.

I didn’t like the art style at all, but I think the biggest issue in this for me is that to call it an Anne of Green Gables retelling is a bit of a stretch. It loses so much of Anne’s character, of the tone and ideas of the original, of the family dynamics among the Cuthberts and Anne that are so key to the original, and honestly just doesn’t capture the spirit or much of the story. Even Diana and Anne’s relationship feels less real and important in this than in the original novel. Honestly, it almost feels like a dumbed-down version of Anne of Green Gables—it loses so much of the complexity and emotion of the original novel.

Beyond my adaptation issues, however, it was a relatively enjoyable story in its own right. I really enjoyed Anne’s developing friendship with Diana, and later her growing feelings for her. I also liked seeing her interact with the zine club and learn to express herself in that way. There’s also a fun Gilbert plotline. I know I would have loved having this graphic novel available to me when I was a young queer girl in middle-school (even though I would’ve been even more of a pedant then about the quality of the adaptation).

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I’ll keep holding out for the queer Anne of Green Gables retelling of my dreams, but I’m very grateful that adaptations like this exist today. Though I have issues with its quality as an adaptation, its art style, and I wish that Marilla and Matthew had played more of a role, I think that the Anne and Diana relationship is handled very well. I’m giving this book 3.5/5 stars, and I would happily recommend it to any middle-grade readers, particularly if they already enjoy Anne of Green Gables.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Where You’ve Got to Be, by Caroline Gertler

As she begins sixth grade, 11-year-old Nolie feels everything changing around her. Her annual beach vacation with her cousins is cut short, her parents’ time is entirely taken up with her older sister’s Nutcracker schedule, and her best friend, Jessa, is suddenly trying to change everything about Nolie to make her “cooler.” Amid all of this chaos, Nolie begins to pick up a habit of stealing. As she makes a new friend at school, Nolie must learn how to cope with change in a healthier way.

I think this book had a lot of promise. I really liked Nolie’s character, even if I felt she read a little younger than 11. The conflicts are also all quite plausible, and it’s easy to see how somebody her age would begin to feel like everything is changing around her and there’s nothing she can do about it. I will say that I didn’t love the stealing element of the story—it felt unnecessary, and I didn’t really feel like it was resolved well either. I’ve read a couple other middle-grade books with similar storylines recently, and I feel like Where You’ve Got to Be handles it relatively poorly in comparison. I also wish that there had been a little more exploration into Linden (Nolie’s sister) and Jessa’s characters.

Overall, I did quite enjoy this story. Its struggles feel quintessentially middle-school—the cliques, the feeling that others are growing up fast than you, the adjusting to new commitments and scheduling priorities—and I definitely think that it could be a really important read for anybody in that age group. Despite that, I do wish that there had been a little more character depth for Jessa and Linden, and that the stealing plotline had been handled a little better. It also read a little younger to me than being about a sixth grader. I’m giving Where You’ve Got to Be 3.5/5 stars, and would definitely recommend it to older elementary schoolers or young middle schoolers.

Thanks to NetGalley and Greenwillow Books for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review!