Stick With Me
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
“Stunning.”—School Library Journal (starred review)
“A pitch-perfect ode to friendship.”—Good Morning America
An ice skater without a rink. An artist without a place to draw. Two misfit girls who become unlikely friends over the course of an unusual week. Readers of Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Rebecca Stead, and Lisa Graff will adore Stick with Me.
?Izzy’s best friend seems to be ditching her for the Queen of Mean, Daphne Toll. Izzy wants to fit in and have some real friends, but all she really has are her drawings. And then her family rents out their house during winter break for some extra cash—and that family’s daughter is sleeping in Izzy’s room and attending the same camp!
Wren is focused on perfecting her ice-skating routine after tanking at sectionals last year. But when her sister qualifies for a life-changing treatment for her epilepsy, Wren is carted off to stay in a rented home near Boston. It doesn’t help that she’s forced to attend the local theater camp, where it seems like the mean girls have it out for her.
Will Izzy and Wren’s shared status as targets of Phoebe and Daphne bring them closer? Or will middle school drama prevent them from ever becoming friends?
Jennifer Blecher, the author of the acclaimed Out of Place, writes with a pitch-perfect ear for tween girls about the ups and downs of middle school friendships. Told from dual perspectives, Stick with Me is a story about fitting in and figuring yourself out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Artistic Izzy, 12, feels out of place in her rapidly shifting world. Her former best friend only wants to hang out with the class mean girl, and Izzy's parents recently moved the family into their garage apartment so they can rent out their Boston home for a week. Figure skater Wren, also 12, plans to spend her school break on the ice; she's dismayed to learn that her family will instead be heading to Boston. There, they'll rent a house near the hospital where Wren's four-year-old sister will undergo surgery for epilepsy. When the rental situation throws the girls together, and their mothers sign them up for a weeklong drama camp, Izzy and Wren become unlikely confidantes and discover the power of a supportive friendship. Each protagonist is layered and relatable: anxious Izzy uses her art to navigate her emotions, while Wren regrets her habit of speaking harshly before thinking. In chapters that alternate between the girls' perspectives, Blecher (Out of Place) keenly illustrates the agonies and intricacies of tween friendship, as well as the familial challenges of being 12: "Too old to stomp your feet and whine. Too young to actually decide anything important." Ages 8 12.
