Berry Parker Doesn't Catch Crushes
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
With her mom's new boyfriend, her best friend's new crush, and her dad's interest in her gym teacher, Berry vows to never catch a crush—and to show everyone how much better things would be without theirs—in this stand-alone contemporary middle grade from Tanita S. Davis, author of The Science of Friendship and Partly Cloudy.
Every year, Berry’s mom, Ivy, visits for a three-week “August Invasion.” And every summer Berry hopes will be the one when Ivy will stay—forever.
Which is why Ivy’s surprise return visit is amazing—until Berry realizes her mom didn’t come for her. Ivy’s back to pack the last of her things, and she’s brought her new “friend,” Mr. Cole to help. When Berry discovers that Mr. Cole is taking a job in England, she’s convinced that Ivy wants to move all the way across the ocean with him, to where an August Invasion can’t reach. Even at school, messy feelings are ruining everything. Berry’s best friend, Lia, rearranges her schedule to have classes with her crush, leaving Berry alone all day. Even Berry’s normally boring dad is making excuses to talk to her gym teacher.
All these crushes are crushing the life out of Berry. Weren’t things better before these extra people came along? Why do things have to change?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A Black middle schooler resolves to prove that life is better without the distraction of romance in this wistful novel by Davis (The Science of Friendship). It seems as if everyone in Berry Parker's life is happily in love. Her best friend, Lia, starts ditching Berry to spend more time with a crush; Berry's father has been scheming up ways to interact with her gym teacher; and things have been getting serious between Berry's mother and her boyfriend, Mr. Cole. More than anything, Berry wants her mother to move back home to live with Berry and her father in Dixon Valley so they can be a family again. When her mother arrives for a surprise visit, Berry thinks she'll get her wish—until she learns that Mr. Cole has asked her mother to move to England with him. Struggling to understand what's so great about love—and why it seems to her to drastically shift her community's personalities, priorities, and perspectives—Berry resolves to never catch feelings. As Berry navigates shifting relationships, Davis utilizes sympathetic prose to detail a hopeful yet bittersweet story about confronting change while remaining true to oneself. Ages 8–12.
