Chris makes a friend

Chris Rossi doesn't want to spend the entire summer in Massachusetts with her grandparents and her sister. She'd rather stay home on Staten Island and complete the reading challenge she had planned with her best friend, Vicky. But Chris's mom, who is chronically ill, needs to rest before her upcoming neck surgery, and on top of that, Chris is worried that her mom's nonbinary girlfriend Frank might someday abandon the family. Worst of all, Vicky is making new friends in her absence and it feels like she's leaving Chris behind. Everything changes when Chris meets Mia, who is also in town for the summer. Mia understands her in a way her family doesn't. This sweet and thought-provoking work explores friendships, family, a deep affinity for reading, loneliness, mental health, disability, and gender identity. Chris and Becca's complicated sibling relationship shines on the page, and Chris's exploration of her gender identity is nuanced and thoughtfully explored. Gino's latest will absolutely become a friend to young readers who need to feel seen.

Twelve-year-old bookworm Chris isn't thrilled about her and her soccer-obsessed younger sister Becca spending the summer with their grandparents in Massachusetts. While away from her Staten Island hometown, Chris notices that the distance prompts her BFF Vicky to shut her out in favor of new friends, causing Chris to withdraw. During her self-imposed isolation, Chris contemplates the ableism her chronically ill mother experiences, her relationship with her mom's nonbinary girlfriend, and her own gender expression: "I tried calling myself he in my head, just to see, and it was weird and awkward. They was a little better, but still not right." But when Chris meets newcomer Mia, the two become fast friends, exploring town and talking for hours in Chris's secluded reading nook by the creek. What follows is a tender exploration of personal growth and change ("Pretty much all of life is an experiment"), which Gino (Green) delivers via Chris's blunt first-person perspective, her authentic-feeling missteps, and her raw vulnerability, resulting in a perceptive examination of interpersonal connection. Main characters are white-coded. Ages 8--12. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary. (Nov.)

A summer without friends thaws the ice between squabbling sisters. Rising sixth grader Chris Rossi, who lives on Staten Island, is upset that she won't be able to join her best friend, Vicky Chan, for the reading challenge they'd planned together. Instead, she's being sent to her maternal grandparents' home in Leverett, Massachusetts. With neck surgery coming up, her mom, who lives with chronic pain, needs rest--and that won't happen with Chris and her younger sister, Becca, around. Socially awkward Chris is an introvert who's passionate about reading, while Becca is an athletic extrovert. This heartwarming story follows the two white-presenting sisters as they miss everyone back home and grow closer to one another. Leverett comes alive through the vivid portrayal of Nana and Papa, who believe that children must play outdoors instead of being glued to screens--an approach that works for outdoors-loving Becca but is hard for Chris. She also worries that Frank, Mom's nonbinary butch girlfriend, will get sick of being a caregiver and leave. Award-winning author Gino's sensitive depiction of the challenges children face when growing up with a parent with mobility challenges is noteworthy, although readers learn little about Mom apart from her disability. The girls' feelings about their father, who lives in Florida, also go unmentioned, although Chris is aware that Mom "hate[s] his guts." The novel effectively captures shifting family and friendship dynamics and the joy of reading. A tender celebration of friendship, bibliophilia, and queer families. (reading log)(Fiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.