Sardines by Sashi Kaufman
Published by Quill Tree Books on October 18, 2022
ISBN: 0062995618
Genres: Realistic Fiction
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Goodreads

A heartwarming middle grade novel about the power of friendship and positive thinking. Lucas is a middle school kid who is slightly adrift – his beloved older brother, Charlie, is dead, his mother has left to get “help”, and his father is distant and withholding.  Before leaving, Lucas’s mom signed him up for the middle school after care program, and it is here that he finds friendship, connection, and healing.  Between games of Sardines, a reverse hide-and-seek, Lucas and the other members of after care — new kid Finn, athlete Cat, popular Anna, and earnest but goofy Robbie — work together to make wishes come true, some simple, some complicated. Maine author Kaufman has crafted a story that is perfect for a classroom read aloud and that will have readers cheering for the rag-tag group as they come up with creative ways to lift up and support one another. Fans of realistic fiction and authors like Linda Mullaly Hunt, R.J. Palaccio, and Erin Entrada Kelly will love this book.

Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Baxter Memorial Library, Gorham