Booklists

CCBC Review:

Twelve-year-old Wesley Wilder (Upper Skagit) starts the day nervous but excited on two fronts. Her poem, “We Still Belong,” is in the school newspaper for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and she plans to ask a boy named Ryan Thomas, whom she’s gotten to know through gaming club, to the upcoming school dance. Wesley misses the opportunity to ask Ryan to the dance in order to reach out to Ella—a girl some of her classmates predicted would be the one to go with him—at a moment when the other girl is visibly upset. But it’s the reaction—and non-reaction—to her poem that’s most disappointing. For the most part, few people say anything, while her English teacher, who gives students extra credit for submitting to the school paper, says she didn’t follow his guidelines and should have used her piece to argue a position about Indigenous Peoples’ Day in relation to Columbus Day. By the end of the school day, Wesley is feeling disheartened and discouraged. But strands of Wesley’s day come together in surprising and wonderful ways when she attends a powwow with her family that evening. This lively, swift-paced story rejects broad tropes of middle school drama in favor of moments of genuine connection, with wonderful, relatable characters in Wesley, her family members, and friends. In addition to the inclusion of gaming culture—among Wesley and her friends and online, including Native gamers—the story and author’s note offer thoughtful perspectives on Native identity.  ©2023 Cooperative Children’s Book Center 

CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 9-12
Age Range: Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10) Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Format: Novel
Subjects: Affirmation Community Families First/Native Nations Identity School Upper Skagit People Writers and Writing
Diversity subject: Indigenous

Publishers: HarperCollins, Heartdrum
Publish Year: 2023
Pages: 249
ISBN: 9780063064560
CCBC Location: Fiction, Day

Add To My List