Going overboard

Gr 5 Up--Nonbinary seventh grader Piper Shapiro and zir mother Noura are an engaging duo who love and support each other. It's always been the two of them, and that is the way Piper likes it. Then zir mother introduces zem to Gwinny--her girlfriend--and Piper fears they might be getting serious. To make matters worse, Gwinny is zir classmate Colton's mother, whom ze does not care for. If they get married, Colton will become zir stepbrother! There's only one thing to do: break up the lovely couple before they walk down the aisle. When Gwinny takes the whole group on a Caribbean cruise, Piper teams up with zir faux "twin" Colton to sabotage their mothers' plans. As Operation Break Up is put into action, the kids begin to have fun working together to thwart their mothers' relationship. Huntoon strikes the perfect balance between lighthearted and sweet to thoughtful and honest while dealing with serious topics important to many tweens, including same sex-marriage nonbinary identity, deadnames, found family, interpersonal relationships, traversing "normal" middle school angst, bullying, middle school mean antics, and neopronouns. VERDICT A charming, timely novel about growth and change; recommended for most middle school collections.--Pamela Thompson McLeod

Sixth grader Piper reluctantly teams up with classmate Colton to break up their moms. Nonbinary budding fashion designer Piper, who uses the pronounsze/zir/zem, was raised by an awesome and supportive single mom, Noura. Noura's had girlfriends in the past, but nothing serious--at least not until Gwinny. Piper starts to realize this relationship is different when ze is invited to join one of their dates and meet Gwinny's son, who turns out to be someone who once mocked Piper at a school dance. Piper has no desire to share zir mom and merge families, so when they all decide to go on a Caribbean cruise together, Piper plans Project Breakup. Piper will need help to pull it off, however, so ze brings Colton into the fold, only to discover that Colton's a lot more fun than ze thought. Just as Piper's plan begins to fall into place, ze starts to question if maybe Project Breakup was a mistake. Told through Piper's first-person narration, the story balances the antics of the breakup scheme with Piper's internal growth as ze finds self-expression and confidence through fashion and realizes that change can be a good thing. Some serious topics and moments are gently threaded throughout, but overall the tale maintains a light tone and focuses on acts of love and support. Piper and Colton are cued white. Entertaining and thoughtful.(Fiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.