Just like me

Review by Booklist Review

As infants, three girls left the same Chinese orphanage to be adopted by American families from the same town. Now almost 12, nerdy Avery and sporty Becca are good friends who embrace their Chinese ethnicity, but Julia wants nothing to do with her Chinese roots not even chopsticks. When the three girls end up at church camp for the week to bond, a disaster seems to be the inevitable result, especially since their cabin mates are difficult to get along with. Told from Julia's perspective through a mix of personal narrative and journal entries, this delightful, touching story transports the reader to summer camp, incorporating touchstone details that range from crafts in the art shed and mystery ham in the cafeteria, to water fights in the cabin and rowing competitions on the lake. The characters are believable and well developed, and the mix of personalities helps propel the story forward. Through the issues of family and friendship, Cavanaugh (This Journal Belongs to Ratchet, 2013) explores what connects us to one another.--Moore, Melissa Copyright 2016 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-7-Eleven-year-old Julia heads reluctantly off to Camp Little Big Woods, a Christian summer camp for girls in Wisconsin, along with exuberant, sporty Becca, and talkative, pedantic Avery. All three were in the same orphanage in China as babies and now have journals from Ms. Marcia, their families' adoption agency coordinator, who is writing an article about transracial adoptees. Placed in a cabin with queen bee Vanessa; her fawning sidekick, Meredith; and her decidedly uncool cousin, Gina, the girls find that tempers flare, nerves fray, and friendships are sorely tested. Becca and Avery are equally at ease with their Chinese background and American upbringing, while Julia is more ambivalent thanks to a mother who denies that race is a factor in how she is treated and some insensitive classmates and teachers. Tween readers will find much to identify with in this charming and refreshingly wholesome coming-of-age story. Set to a soundtrack of 1970s and 1980s disco and pop classics and filled with swimming, campfires, games, and an occasional Bible study, the narrative follows all six cabin residents as they learn important lessons about being honest, kind, and comfortable in your own skin. Short chapters told from Julia's viewpoint alternate with her journal entries for Ms. Marcia, showing her progress as she learns to speak up for herself and admit her deepest fears. Vanessa and Meredith also come to terms with other kinds of family drama. Filled with slapstick humor and fast-paced action, the novel will engage reluctant readers, while offering fuel for deep contemplation by those ready to tackle questions of identity and belonging. Give this one to fans of Jeanne Birdsall's "Penderwicks" (Knopf) series, Jennifer L. Holm, and Andrew Clements. VERDICT Highly recommended for middle grade realistic fiction collections.-Laura Simeon, Open Window School Library, WA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Horn Book Review

This well-intentioned novel is narrated by Julia, an eleven-year-old adoptee from China navigating a week at Bible camp along with two girls who were also adopted from the same orphanage. As the proposed subjects of an article on international adoption, they're compelled to keep journals, opening Julia's inner life to readers as reluctance gives way to self-discovery. Readable and interesting, but predictable. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Although she doesn't identify as Chinese, Julia, an 11-year-old girl adopted from China, is sent to sleepaway camp for a week to bond with the two other girls who were adopted from the same orphanage at the same time. There are two interconnected plots in Cavanaugh's third novel directed at middle-grade girls (Always, Abigail, 2014, etc.); one concerns Julia's acceptance of her heritage and feelings about being adopted, the other involves a camp competition that forces Julia and her at-war bunkmates to work together and eventually develop a liking for one another. After stirring up some initial interest, the story goes through a didactic and dull stretch as the camp competition and its subsequent life lessons pile up. Near the end, however, the story shifts again, gaining gravitas and becoming incredibly moving. Julia starts to come to terms with the sea of repressed emotions that surrounds her adoption, and her bunkmates, who have their own secrets and vulnerabilities, acknowledge and share them as well. The campers are differentiated well enough for readers to remember who's who, but except for narrator Julia and her bunkmate Gina, a foster child who pretends that everything is a joke, they don't have much in the way of shading or soul. Tame tale redeemed by a touching ending. (Fiction. 9-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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1

The camp bus sputtered and chugged up the interstate, sounding as if this might be its last trip. Avery sat across the aisle from me with her earbuds on, practicing a Chinese vocabulary lesson. Becca sat next to her, chewing on a straw and watching a soccer match on her cell phone.

"Ni hao ma," Avery said, her chin-length hair with bangs making her look studious in her thick, black-framed glasses.

When she saw me looking at her, she pulled out one earbud and offered it to me.

Did she really think I wanted to learn Chinese with her?

"Technically the lesson I'm working on is review, but I could teach you the basics if you want."

I looked around at all the kids on the bus staring at her and shook my head.

"GO! GO! GO!" Becca yelled, pumping her fist in the air as she cheered for Spain's soccer team. Her hair spilled out of her ponytail as if she were playing in the soccer game instead of just watching it. "Booyah! Score!"

As kids stood up on the bus to see what all the yelling was about, I slid down in my seat, and the driver gave us that "death look" in her rearview mirror. The one that said, "If I have to stop this bus, somebody's gonna get it..."

"Hey, Julia!" Becca yelled, holding up her phone. "Wanna watch with me? The game just went into overtime!"

"No thanks."

Crowding around a tiny phone screen and watching people kick a soccer ball around was not my idea of fun.

My idea of fun was craft camp at the park district with my best friend, Madison, but Mom said I had the rest of the summer to do that.

Instead I was heading north toward Wisconsin to Camp Little Big Woods, but at least that was better than heading south toward Indiana for Summer Palace Chinese Culture Camp.

As soon as we "graciously" agreed to be the subjects of Ms. Marcia's adoption article, she suggested that the three of us spend a week together making paper lanterns and learning the pinyin alphabet at culture camp.

"It will be a great way for you girls to reconnect not only with each other, but also with your heritage," Ms. Marcia had gushed.

She loved treating us as if we were two instead of almost twelve.

But I said there was no way I was going to eat Chinese food three times a day and do tai chi every morning, so we settled on the sleepaway camp Avery and Becca went to every year.

I reached into the pocket of my suitcase and pulled out the plastic lacing of the gimp friendship bracelet I had started a few days ago. I had planned to finish it before camp so that I could give it to Madison when I said good-bye to her, but I'd run out of time. I decided I'd try to finish it while I was at camp and mail it to her along with a nice, long letter saying how much I missed her.

"Hey, Julia!" Becca yelled. "What's that?"

"Nothing," I said. "Just a friendship bracelet for my friend Madison."

"COOL!" Becca yelled. "We should totally make those for each other in the arts-and-crafts room at camp."

She went back to her straw-chewing and her tiny-phone-screen soccer game.

Friendship bracelets for the three of us? I guess "technically" as Avery would say, the three of us were friends. But even though "technically" I had known Avery and Becca longer than I had known my parents, I couldn't imagine ever thinking of them as the friendship-bracelet kind of friends.

What are your thoughts on the Chinese proverb: "An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break."

Dear Ms. Marcia,

I've been hearing about this red thread for as long as I can remember, but I cannot imagine a thread, of any color-red, blue, purple, orange, or green-connecting Avery, Becca, and me. And if by some chance there really is a thread, I'm pretty sure this trip to camp might just be enough to snap that thing like an old rubber band, breaking it once and for all. Then that Chinese proverb would be history in a whole new way.

Julia

Excerpted from Just Like Me by Nancy Cavanaugh All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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