Figure It Out, Henri Weldon
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Tanita S. Davis, author of Partly Cloudy and Serena Says, has written another funny, warm story featuring middle school and family life—all about the complex calculations it takes for everyone to balance the equations of their lives and what it takes to be part of a team while handling a learning disability. This middle grade novel is perfect for fans of From the Desk of Zoe Washington and A Good Kind of Trouble.
Seventh grader Henrietta Weldon gets to switch schools—finally! She’ll be “mainstreaming” into public school, leaving her special education school behind. She can’t wait for her new schedule, new friends, and new classes.
Henri’s dyscalculia, a learning disability that makes math challenging to process and understand, is what she expects to give her problems. What she doesn’t expect is a family feud with her sister over her new friends, joining the girls’ soccer team, and discovering poetry. Henri’s tutor and new friend, Vinnie, reminds her to take it slow. One problem at a time.
If Henri Weldon has twenty-four hours in a day, and she has two siblings who dislike her four new friends, two hours of soccer practice, seven hours of classes, and three hours of homework . . . she has:
A. No free time
B. No idea how to make everyone happy
C. No time to figure it out, Henri Weldon!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Seventh grader Henri Weldon is determined to start the new school year on a high note, though she wishes her older sister Katherine were more supportive. As the two start classes, Katherine refuses to answer Henri's questions about what to expect, won't sit with her at lunch, and treats her as a "problem to be solved." Henri's unnamed learning disability, which reads as similar to dyscalculia, often leaves her feeling disconnected from her classmates, so she's heartened when she meets friendly Vinnie Morgan, a foster kid who later becomes her peer tutor. The support Henri receives from her committed teachers and Vinnie allow Henri to flourish, but when she tells her parents she wants to try out for soccer, her mother worries about whether Henri can juggle everything at once. Henri's struggles with her learning disability, her feeling overwhelmed with her increasingly busy life, and her contentious relationship with Katherine are matter-of-factly portrayed via a complex character who is not singularly defined by her personal challenges. In this hopeful, well-paced volume, Davis (Partly Cloudy) centers accommodation, community, and understanding. The Weldons are Black; supporting characters are racially diverse. Ages 8–12.
