This book about a 12-year-old girl who moves to an apartment building after her dad loses his job and they have to sell their house had lots of good family and friendship threads in it. It wasn't as interesting as From the Desk of Zoe Washington but the appeal to 4th-6th grade girls is still there. I wish Marks would have made the book a little more about race. I often forgot that Joy was Black.

This book was so simplistic in its creation. The last book I read by this author was great, and I think I liked that this one had some good life lessons for middle-grade kids in it. Joy moves to an apartment complex with her family because her parents can no longer afford the house they were living in. She meets a group of friends all living in the same complex who introduce her to a hideout in the building that all the kids use to get away from their home lives. She even starts a dog walking business with one of her new friends. However, when her parents start fighting more, things take a turn for the worse. I liked this book because Joy eventually learns that not all turbulence in relationships results in a crash and relationships are sometimes more important than careers or jobs.

I've been eagerly anticipating reading "A Soft Place To Land" because I so enjoyed "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" last year. Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC to read and review.

I highly recommend "A Soft Place to Land." It's so well written that I could have finished it in one sitting (if I had stayed up past my bedtime) and all of the characters felt real and relatable. Each of the kids we meet has their own backstory, which provides several points of connection for readers. This book does what Janae Marks does best, which is to take a kid-friendly dive into hard issues that impact families everyday.

Joy says, "Yeah, sometimes I feel like someone took a slingshot and shot me high into the air, and now I'm waving my arms and trying to find a soft place to land. You know?" ...That's a great way to describe what dealing with a big life change feels like for all of us.

In A Soft Place To Land, Joy is grappling with the fact that her family has just sold their home and moved into an apartment due to her dad's job loss. This book hits home personally for me in a few ways. First of all, we had to sell a house and move in with my grandparents when I was a teenager, and that was a challenging change at a pivotal time for me. I could relate to some of Joy's feelings and experiences. I also work with a ministry now that provides resources for people in job transition, so there's another connection to my own life. The number of job losses and turnovers in the U.S. averaged 21.7 million annually, so think about how many kids are impacted by stories like Joy's each year!! And families have to move and make changes for lots of other reasons too. Kids need the message of this book.

Ultimately, Joy learns that it's not a place that's the most important, but the people. She makes some new friends, learns some lessons, and gains some perspective on her family's situation. And I think readers of all ages will relate to her desire to find a "soft place to land."

A Soft Place to Land is a charming middle grade novel that looks at the complexities of family financial hardships and how to move forward. While not a unique story, it was compelling and sweet.

Young people experience true emotions, and pain, and deserve to feel that their feelings matter, and are acknowledged. The tender parts of this book truly had me reconnecting with my own emotions.

Where do you feel safe, at peace, or where do you express your real raw emotions that aren’t easy for others to hear? What happens when that space is no longer available? How do you move forward and cope with change?

Don’t underestimate the beauty of a story that makes you pause and reflect. If it’s adult fiction or middle grade, to me it still deserves to be read with an open mind and heart to receive what it has to say back to you.

The aspects of mystery keep the plot moving, adding just a hint of curiosity. However, it’s Joy as a character, her friendships, and as always the love felt in between the lines that makes me truly a fan of Janae Marks work.

Listen to some of Joy’s favorite scores as she mentions them, remember what it was like to dream of the thing that gives you life. For Joy, it’s film scores, for her friend Nora, it’s filmmaking.

When things start to look up, they all start to fall apart. (If that doesn’t hit home right now.) There are two things keeping Joy together - realizing another child in her apartment is having a hard time too, and making sure her friend Nora knows she values their friendship. Joy shares the vulnerable parts of her emotions, and this mysterious person does too through writing on the wall in the secret - kids only hiding place. Will Joy find out who's writing the messages? Will she and Nora stay friends through it all?

This story brings me back to my childhood, terribly missing the home and town I grew up in. I was raised in a beautiful community, and Joy is navigating finding her own in A Soft Place to Land.

Janae Marks has officially become an auto-read author for me! Thank you to NetGalley and Katherine Tegen books for the review copy of this A Soft Place to Land by Janae Marks. I loved Marks’ first book, From the Desk of Zoe Washington, and jumped at the chance to preview her sophomore novel. A Soft Place to Land follows Joy, whose family must move to an apartment when her father loses his job.

It is difficult for Joy to adjust to this new situation, but thankfully, she meets a lot of nice people in the new building. As she comes to grips with her family’s new financial situation, she tries to think of ways to help - and get back the piano lessons that will be on hold.

When her parents’ fighting gets more frequent, a new friend lets her in on the apartment complex’s secret room. It is a hidden sanctuary for the kids in residence.

This book has a lot of intrigue a middle grade reader would find compelling. The characters - both young and old - are authentic. There is a bit of suspension to reality, but I truly feel middle grade readers - especially those with an entrepreneurial spirit - would enjoy this book.

A Soft Place To Land is perfect for young readers who don’t want a magical fantasy story. This book is set in realty with topics the readers can relate to. We need more kids books set in apartment buildings. I’m really glad these characters live in apartments because lots of children grow in living In apartments, not homes. I think if I read this as a kid, the setting would make me happy. Joy making a friend right away could also teach kids how to approach a new person that they want to be friends with. Also the dog walking business can teach the young readers a bit of responsibility, it could get them into taking care of their own pets. I think that was good to add in. All in all, I’d recommend this.

A Soft Place to Land is a story that is all too true these days with unemployment affecting many American families. Joy (love the name) is a likable character dealing with uncertainty and loss. Other characters plus the hiding place (let’s consider it also a character because it plays an important role in the purpose fir the story), keep an energetic progress throughout the book. There are no easy fixes. This makes the book all the more relatable to young readers who are “going through something.” However, there are solutions that are found through work and perseverance…and joy!

A Soft Place to Land by Janae Marks, 2021

Recommended for grades 4-8; Realistic fiction

Expected publication date is September 14; this review refers to an Advance Reader’s Copy from NetGalley

Brief Review:

Twelve-year-old Joy Taylor feels as if she’s lost everything. Since her father lost his job, her family had to sell their house and move into a small apartment where she has to share a room with her little sister, and she can’t get the piano that she needs in order to work towards her dream of becoming a film score composer. Then a neighbor girl named Nora lets her in on a secret: The kids in the building have a secret Hideout where they have regular game nights and where they can go anytime they need privacy. Nora also helps Joy start a dog-walking business, which Joy hopes will make it possible for her to buy a piano and pay for her own piano lessons after all. Then Joy makes a terrible mistake and accidentally spends a night in the Hideout. When her mother comes looking for her, she discovers the Hideout, and the kids are no longer allowed to hang out down there. All of the kids are furious except for Nora, and even Nora gets in a fight with Joy later. The next day, Nora doesn’t show up to help Joy walk dogs, and Joy drops a leash and loses a dog. In the final chapters of the book, Joy must find the missing dog, repair all of her damaged friendships, and find some way to replace the Hideout. Thanks to its believable characters, emotional and introspective writing style, and themes of secrecy and escape, this book will appeal to a wide audience.

Long Review:

This book has been on my to-read list for a long time because I enjoyed the author’s previous book, From the Desk of Zoe Washington, which was on my runners-up list for the best middle grade novel of 2020. This newer book does not disappoint. It follows twelve-year-old Joy Taylor during a particularly challenging spring and early summer. Her father has lost his job and the family is struggling financially, so they've sold their house and moved into an inexpensive apartment where there's much less space. As much as Joy loves her six-year-old sister Malia, she doesn’t like sharing a bedroom, and she definitely doesn’t like overhearing her parents fight all the time. And they can no longer afford the piano Joy wants so that she can build her musical skills and one day be a professional film score composer.

The silver lining is that all the residents of the new apartment building welcome Joy and her family into their tight-knit community. Joy is immediately befriended by Nora, a cheerful aspiring filmmaker who is in her grade at school. There are three other kids around Joy’s age in the building, and Nora lets Joy in on their secret: There’s a trapdoor in a storage closet that leads to a basement room that the kids call the Hideout. None of the adults even know it’s there. Over the last ten years, kids have been cleaning and decorating it, having secret game nights there, and using it for alone time when necessary. From that point on, Joy regularly goes to the Hideout, sometimes to hang out with her new friends, and sometimes just for privacy.

Joy also quickly bonds with Mae, the elderly woman who lives next door, and her dog Ziggy. Mae ends up asking Joy to walk Ziggy for her. Joy’s parents aren’t easily persuaded, but with Nora’s help, Joy not only gets permission to take on the responsibility of walking Ziggy, she also takes on other dog-walking clients. Joy hopes to save up enough money to get her own piano and start taking piano lessons again. Meanwhile, Nora is working on writing a screenplay and wants to earn money for the equipment to actually film it.

Meanwhile, Joy has been writing notes back and forth with someone else in the Hideout. The person seems depressed and Joy wants to help, but she doesn’t know who it is. As Nora points out, it might not even be one of the kids in their friend group; it might one of the older kids who used to hang out in the Hideout and still goes down there occasionally. Joy sees this situation as a mystery and wants Nora to help her, since Nora knows everyone in the building better than she does, but Nora is reluctant. Then the mystery note-writer tells Joy not to worry about him or her anymore, which Joy takes as an ominous hint that they’re about to do something desperate and she has to hurry up her investigation. But she’s already eliminated most of her own friends, so she isn’t sure where to look next.

Then Joy makes a terrible mistake. Distraught over her parents’ struggling marriage and tired of putting on a brave face for her sister’s sake, Joy hides in the Hideout so long that she accidentally falls asleep and spends the night down there. Since she has her cell phone with her, her mom tracks her to the storage closet and notices the trapdoor leading to the Hideout. Now Joy and all of her new friends are in trouble for keeping this secret from their parents, and the building supervisor says that the room isn’t even up to code; they aren’t allowed to go there anymore.

All of the kids are furious with Joy except for Nora. But then Joy finds out that Nora was the depressed person she’d been writing notes to in the Hideout, and she’s furious that Nora didn’t let her know sooner. They have a fight and then Nora doesn’t show up to help Joy walk the dogs. Joy thinks she can handle the dog-walking herself, at least for one day, but it turns out that two leashes in each hand is just too many. She drops Ziggy’s leash and can’t find her neighbor’s dog again.

In the final chapters of the book, Joy must find Ziggy and repair all of her damaged friendships. It turns out that some of the kids weren’t quite as angry as she’d thought, but there’s only one way to make amends with Nora, and that’s to find some replacement for the Hideout. Together with the other kids, and with some help from the building supervisor and her parents, Joy creates a new (but not secret) Hideout.

Throughout the book, the introspective writing style and Joy’s personality are so believable that it’s easy for a reader to become emotionally invested. Each new problem that arises evokes so much empathy that it’s hard to complain about how nicely and neatly everything comes back together in the end and that things get a little cheesy when Joy and Nora make up. (Spoiler alert: Not only does Joy find Ziggy safe and sound, make a new Hideout, and rebuild all her friendships, but her parents reconcile their arguments and a neighbor offers Joy the use of his piano and Dad realizes he can find the money to pay for Joy’s lessons. The only thing Joy doesn’t get back is her old house, and she’s decided that she’s happy in the apartment after all.) Besides being interesting, well-written, and emotionally engaging, this book also deserves credit for the sensitive way it portrays financial struggles. Joy’s parents are sensible but apologetic about the things the family has had to give up, and Joy’s own attitude toward money is as practical as could be expected from a preteen. Despite the change that Joy’s family has suddenly undergone, there’s no sense that Joy looks down on any of her new neighbors who are presumably not very well-off.

Highly recommended for middle grade readers who like realistic contemporary fiction. Will have particular appeal for dog-lovers, readers who share Joy’s interest in movie scores, and kids whose living situation is similar to Joy’s. (There are plenty of books and movies about kids who live in houses, and there are plenty about kids who live in abject poverty, but not so many about kids who live in small but habitable apartments) But even kids who don’t relate to any of those specific details will likely understand and appreciate Joy’s need for her own special space and will enjoy this book’s themes of secrecy and escape, as well as its depiction of the kind of secret Hideout every kid wishes they had.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in return for an honest review.

Joy's family is forced to downsize from their house to an apartment when her dad loses his job. It's a difficult transition for their family and her parents arguing doesn't help. Joy is navigating difficulties at home, having to give up piano lessons, and new friendships, but she is also able to see beyond herself and want to help others, which I really appreciated.

At the end of the book I realized three things...
(1) I want a Hideout.
(2) I would highly recommend putting together a playlist of film scores...it will take your reading to the next level!
(3) A batch of snickerdoodles will also take reading up a notch!

Thanks to Netgalley and Katherine Teigen Books for the advance Kindle copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this 9.14.21 release. When Joy’s family is forced to downsize to an apartment, it is a tough transition. She has to go to a new school, make new friends, and figure out her new place at home. When a neighbor introduces her to The Hideout, a secret room in the apartment basement for middle and high school kids in the building. Just when things are looking up, Joy accidentally reveals the Hideout to an adult, shutting it down. She was getting close to finding out who was writing her secret messages in there, and finds herself friendless again. How can she fix it? Great for readers in grades 4-7.

Fans of Marks's previous title, From the Desk of Zoe Washington, will be pleased with this newest title.

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag/ Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again? What a universal lyric, right? A Soft Place to Land by Janae Marks, a middle grade book about twelve-year-old Joy Taylor going through a tumultuous life transition, brings similar energy in the mysterious verse that intrigues Joy through much of the book: “I’m tired of smiling when actually I’m falling apart/ I’m tired of hiding the pain that’s inside my heart.”

Most of the story moves with Joy drifting like an untethered plastic bag. With her family having to downsize from a nice house in the suburbs with plenty of space that kept her family of four from bumping into each other, Joy is dismayed by the cramped apartment lifestyle her family is forced to adapt to after her father loses his job. Emphasizing the issues in being stuck in a smaller space together, her parents are locked into constant bickering that she can only drown out with her headphones on the top bunk the small room she now shares with her younger sister, Malia. Just when her frustrations with this arrangement reach the point where the earbuds and bit of comfort she can provide to Malia feels more draining than helpful, she makes friends with a longtime resident of the building and new schoolmate, Nora. Nora picks up on Joy’s need for privacy and shows her the secret hangout passed down from building kid to building kid over time.

Finding a new friend group in the kids that sometimes hangout together in the Hideout, Joy finds the confidence to get to know more of the community and make some cash by walking many of the building’s dogs in an enterprise of her and Nora’s making. Both girls have money goals to achieve—Nora needs a camcorder for her directorial projects and Joy wants to resume her cancelled music lessons—and enjoy spending time with the dogs and each other. But when Joy centers finding the mysterious author of the above poem as her major priority, these other interests seem to fall to the side. To add insult to injury, she may have committed the worst betrayal of all after hearing some devastating news from her parents.

As an older sister whose parents went through similar circumstances at an early age, many of Joy’s struggles hit home. Being the strong one and taking a hit—losing the ability to take music lessons or get a keyboard so that other family members can have something instead—feels like a necessary sacrifice to show love. Doing so without too much complaint because you don’t want to add stress to anyone’s overtasked life is also a familiar feeling. Luckily for Joy, a big mistake that she makes leads her parents to uncover and address her needs while also showing her how she can look for support even after she’s done her worst.

Needless to say, this book hit a lot a powerful notes for me and I would definitely recommend it to kids who are having a difficult time adjusting to a new life experience, whose parents are in conflict, or anyone who has enjoyed Kelly Yang’s Front Desk series.

This is excellent contemporary middle grade fiction. I particularly liked the themes that surface as 12-year old Joy sets out to earn money for a piano or keyboard -- themes like "you're not alone; you're not the only one dealing with tough stuff." I like that both the kid-characters and the adults in this book mess up... then apologize. The story is heartwarming and honest, and I look forward to posting an in-depth interview with author Janae Marks on my blog on Sept. 14, 2021. abwestrick.com/blog/

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel. This did not affect my review at all.

A Soft Place to Land was a heartfelt novel about a girl, her friends, and their secret hiding place. Joy isn’t happy that her family moved. She went from the house that she lived in her whole life to a cramped apartment. It doesn’t help that her parents are arguing more and more and she feels like she has to not show her feelings to be the strong one for her little sister, Malia. She does have four other friends who live on her apartment building though, and they show her the one place the adults don’t know about. The Hideout. However, she screws up and her friends are all mad at her. Will she be able to fix her friendships and help her parents?

This was such a good book that I could not stop reading! Joy was such a realistic character and I loved her dedication to doing the thing that she thinks is right. This would be a great read for any realistic fiction fan, young or old.

Joy's life has totally gone haywire, she moved from her suburban home to a tiny apartment; she now shares a room with her adorable but annoying little sister; she can no longer afford piano lessons which she needs desperately if she plans on fulfilling her dream of becoming a musical composer; and most worrisomely her parents won't stop fighting which Joy believes will lead to their divorce. In Joy's precocious mind, life simply cannot get any worse, luckily things look up when she meets Nora another kid in the building who introduces Joy not just to her friends but to a secret hiding spot where they all go to get away. It is at the secret spot that Joy finds an anonymous and disturbing note the wall, Joy desperately want to help this person but she has no idea who it is and then their correspondence stops. Joy makes it her mission to identify that individual but to do so she would have question her friends, could she be ruining the fragile friendships she already has???

A Soft Place to Land was absolutely delightful, although I would consider it more of middle grade fiction with mystery elements. Joy was lovable character who made her fair share of mistakes but was always eager and willing to fix them when required. As someone who grew up in an apartment building, this book was so familiar to me and reminded me of my childhood. When I was growing up there are very few books that captured the warmth and inclusiveness of growing up in a apartment building community, I am thrilled that this book captured that essence so beautifully. 4.25 stars

4 stars

Joy, the m.c. of this charming middle grade novel, is experiencing a great deal of change when readers meet her. She has just arrived at her new apartment with her family: mom, dad, and younger sister Malia. As a result of dad's relatively recent layoff, they have moved to this much smaller dwelling from their single family home across town. Joy laments not only the move and the loss of the house but a simpler time in general...when her parents fought less, she had her own room, she went to a different school, and she still got to work toward her dreams in piano lessons. The whole family seems understandably stressed, but Joy takes on so much for such a young character.

Though Joy experiences a lot of loss and hardship at the start of the novel, she navigates through more of that from a better position: one with friends. It is heartwarming and useful to watch Joy make new friends, develop responsibility, make mistakes and learn how to recover from this irritating part of life, and problem solve. There is a lot of didactic content here, but it never feels that way; while readers of all ages can learn from Joy and her experiences and choices, the novel never reads as instructional or punitive. Joy and her friends are well devised characters, reflecting their ages and experiences authentically, and they all seem to be encountering and grappling with a variety of life circumstances.

I will absolutely be recommending this novel to my students and to friends and family, especially those with age appropriate readers nearby. The characters are engaging, and the depictions of challenging financial circumstances, personal sacrifices, and family strife are all on point. There is a subplot that I'll keep quiet to avoid spoilers, but it reflects one of my worst fears, so I found myself getting distracted by that. I expect that I'll be tipping off my students - and other adults who plan to share this with kids - about what that is and how it ends. It's totally age appropriate: just a lot for me. Personal caveat aside, this is a winner and should be in the to-read queue for middle grade audiences.

Janae Marks does it again! When Joy’s family is forced to move because of her father’s job loss, she’s left feeling like her world has fallen apart. Her parents are constantly arguing, she has to change schools and make new friends, and she has to put on a tough face in front of her little sister. To top it all off, she has to sacrifice her dreams of music and learning to play piano because it no longer fits into the family budget. Things start to turn around when she meets Nora and discovers The Hideout, a secret room and refuge for kids in their apartment building. Soon, however, both Joy’s friendships and the safety of the Hideout are in jeopardy.

This book is full of relatable characters and experiences, and is definitely a book to add to any 5th/6th grade classroom!

A Soft Place to Land by Janae Marks is a heartfelt story about growing up, navigating the difficulties of the word for the first time, and finding the true meaning of home.

12-year-old Joy Taylor’s life has just been turned upside down. Her father was recently laid off and their home went into foreclosure. The family moves to an apartment and now Joy must share a room with her little sister. To make matters worse, her parents have begun fighting all the time and Joy had to give up the one thing that would help her fulfill her dreams, piano lessons.

Joy soon finds comfort in a new friendship with Nora, who introduces her to a secret room the kids in the apartment building have claimed as their hideout. The hideout offers Joy a place to escape the building tensions in her homelife and to make new connections. It is here, where Joy begins exchanging notes with a mystery kid who also seems to be struggling. Joy is determined to figure out who it is and help them, but between comforting her sister Malia, worrying about her parents’ marriage, starting a dog walking business to pay for piano lessons, and lying to her parents to keep the Hideout a secret, Joy is overwhelmed and unsure if she’ll ever uncover the identity of the mystery writer.

This is a wonderful book about the highs and lows of growing up and understanding the realities of adult problems for the first time. Joy spends the first portion of the book focusing on everything she and her family have lost, but as the book progresses, she understands that “home” doesn’t have to be defined as a physical place. It is about being together with your loved ones. Community was a big part of this book and the vibrant characters surrounding Joy were all the more fulfilling to read after living apart from my own community during this past year. Marks is a vivid writer and she had me rooting for the Taylor family every step of the way.

Joy's story is powerful for any reader who has been through a major change. She learns many lessons, many of which she has to learn the hard way, that help her adapt to life in an apartment. She makes new friends and navigates conflict in ways many kids could learn from. I'd read anything by Janae Marks!