Book Synopsis:
Rachel Brooks is excited for the new school year. She's finally earned a place as a forward on her soccer team. Her best friends make everything fun. And she really likes Tate, and she's pretty sure he likes her back. After one last appointment with her scoliosis doctor, this will be her best year yet.
Then the doctor delivers some terrible news: The sideways curve in Rachel's spine has gotten worse, and she needs to wear a back brace twenty-three hours a day. The brace wraps her in hard plastic from shoulder blades to hips. It changes how her clothes fit, how she kicks a ball, and how everyone sees her -- even her friends and Tate. But as Rachel confronts all the challenges the brace presents, the biggest change of all may lie in how she sees herself.
My Review:
3.75/5 stars. I can’t relate to the main character, Rachel, at all - I don’t have scoliosis, I’m no longer a seventh grader, my dad isn’t a doctor. And yet, I can relate to her. I understand what it’s like to have a disability - even though hers is temporary - that affects every aspect of your life and to have to adapt and learn to live with it.
On the other hand, though, this book also had a lot of cringey writing. It’s a middle grade, so the writing is by nature going to be more juvenile, but the “drama” was too much for me at times.
I read another one of Alyson Gerber's books - Focused, which is about ADHD - a long time ago, years before I ever used Goodreads or had a blog, and I remember enjoying it a lot. I don't remember details about the plot or writing style or anything, but this is an author I was already slightly familiar with.
As I already mentioned, the "young" writing and annoying 7th grade drama was the big thing I didn't like about this book. I also thought the main character, Rachel, was annoying and overreacting at times. She was making a big deal about having to wear her brace, even though it's an important thing. She got into fights with her mom about it, and I sometimes agreed with her mom's perspective.
There was also a lot of silly dating and popularity drama. I'm not in 7th grade anymore, but even when I was I wasn't caring so much about being "cool" and who is officially boyfriend and girlfriend. It was kind of annoying because "dating" in middle school doesn't even count, yet it was a big part of the plot. This isn't even a complaint about all middle grade books - I've read middle grade books that don't cause me to cringe.
Soccer is also a big part of the story. I love soccer, so I liked that element. One little thing I thought was weird, though, was the fact that having to play defense was the worst thing in the world and that getting moved back to defense from offense was like "getting demoted". Defender was always my primary position, so I don't know why the characters made it seem like was something wrong with it.
Going back to the positives, I like the disability representation. When Rachel first got the brace, I admired her drive and passion to still want to do something she loves despite it. I also liked that she started to get more comfortable with the brace and eventually talking about it/answering questions. I can relate to having a physical thing that people ask about, with my cane.
My favorite line in the book was: “I guess when you don’t have another choice, you have to make things happen for yourself, or they won’t.” That's so accurate to what having a disability is like sometimes. Sometimes you have to do things yourself and learn to adapt.
This book also had a nice, positive ending. I liked that Rachel looked up reasons to love her brace and realized she wasn't alone. She was able to find the good in the situation. Even though she had to keep the brace on longer than anticipated, she had learned to accept and embrace it.
Content:
There was a surprising amount of content for a middle-grade book.
Language: None
Violence/gore:
Sexual Content: Mention of not having "real hips yet", mentions of boobs and bra sizes, a joking comment about being a lesbian, a first kiss described as "soft, slow, and natural" that turns into making out, and talk of someone "trying to go to second base" - these last two are even worse because the characters are in seventh grade
Drugs/alcohol: a girl's mom died because of a drug overdose
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