Where the Heart Is by Jo Knowles
Published by Candlewick Press on April 2nd 2019
ISBN: 1536200034
Pages: 304
Goodreads

Reminiscent of a Judy Blume novel (the ones for older middle grade readers), this book feels like you’re looking into the life of a friend who is struggling but doesn’t know how to talk about it.  It is intimate and honest, inspiring and raw. Thirteen-year-old Rachel is on the cusp of leaving her childhood behind, from getting a job to exploring her sexuality to coping with major financial hardship in her family, she is dealing with so many emotions and thoughts. Knowles deftly handles the awkward, challenging time of adolescence when things seem to change, when friendships threaten to shift and things that didn’t matter before, matter now (a one-piece bathing suit vs. a bikini, for example).  And when the reality of your home life becomes something you have to “handle” with some measure of maturity. With searing honesty and wry humor (sister Ivy is a hoot), the story covers one life-altering summer when Rachel struggles to define the definition of home.  Recommend to readers of The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin or Fish in a Tree by Linda Mullaly Hunt. Follow up titles if a reader likes this one: It’s Not the End of the World, Tiger Eyes, or Blubber by Judy Blume.

Recommended for grades 6-9

Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth