Thank you NetGalley, Random House Children's Books, and Elly Swartz for the opportunity to read this e-ARC!

Told from dual perspectives, this middle grade read was a story of friendship and standing up for what you know is right. Really liked the dynamic between the two main characters - Eric has ADHD, but it's manifested in a way that is easy for kids to understand without the label of the diagnosis. Dani is a go-getter and really goal oriented.

Eric and Dani have been best friends for forever. Dani just became the first girl to make the baseball team and she's dreaming of a great season. Eric is excited that she's finally back from baseball camp and they're going to go camping to reconnect. Except, this is the summer that everything changes.

A horrible accident during their camping trip leaves Dani injured and in physical therapy, unable to participate this baseball season. And what's worse: Eric might have been the one to cause the accident. The accident and Dani's injuries drive a wedge between them. Will they find their way back to each other and remember why they were best friends to begin with?

Hidden Truths is a wonderful middle grade read that tackles a long list of hard topics, but in a beautiful and believable way. It's a story of friendship and family, finding oneself, grief, guilt, and so much more. I highly recommend this to all children, but also encourage those in teaching positions to consider adding this to their classroom, or better yet their curriculum, if possible.

4.5 (rounded up to 5 where applicable) because there were a few (spoilers) that I wish were handled differently, but still overall loved the story.

Hidden Truths is a great read! It shows how things can change between best friends in a variety of ways. Friends can grow about or find new friends or emotions can get in the way. After an accident comes between best friends they find it hard at times to talk to each other like they used to.

It's a coming-of-age and self-awareness story. I loved how Eric realized his full potential as someone who saw things differently than others typically see situations. His ADHD wasn't necessarily a bad thing but he needed to be more aware of himself and how he could make amends to his best friend Dani.

A must-have in all libraries. Also a great read-aloud for upper elementary and middle school classes.

@ellyswartz #HiddenTruths #SchoolLibrary #SchoolLibrarians #ReadABook #Books #Read #MGReads MGBooks #MGLit #NetGalley KidLit

"Hidden Truths" by Elly Swartz is an emotionally charged exploration of the complexities of friendships, loyalty, and the challenges that arise when truths are buried. The dual narrative provides a compelling depth to Dani and Eric's relationship, giving readers an intimate glimpse into their intertwined lives, both before and after the life-changing incident. Swartz masterfully captures the rawness of guilt, the anguish of betrayal, and the journey towards healing and forgiveness. Through donuts, comic books, and summer memories, the narrative underscores the significance of shared moments in the foundation of friendships. "Hidden Truths" is a touching tale that will resonate with readers of all ages. Great selection for school libraries and classroom.

Thank you Random House-Delacorte Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

This was an enjoyable and quick read with dual POV that focused on best friends Dani and Eric. There were a lot of topics explored in this book - friendship, grief, anger, bullying, injury and healing, guilt (to name a few), but it never felt overwhelming. I like that this book illustrated the complicated emotions that can be involved after an accident. It also does a good job of showing that friendships can be messy at times. Many characters made mistakes or didn't think their actions (or inactions) through. These events felt pretty realistic for middle school kids. However, each character grew and learned from these events. I think readers that enjoy school and friendship stories would like this one.

This friendship story is told in alternating chapters by Eric and Dani. They have a strong friendship, so it is not surprising when Eric steps up during a tragedy and follows in the path of his superhero comic book characters by standing up for Dani. Eric has angst about the accident, though, and Dani meets a very popular girl from their school while she is in the hospital. Both kids deal with pain, loss, fear, and there are times when by not standing up and by not communicating with each other, both of them suffer. Eric is on a school committee that is community action oriented and works through his feelings about the accident by researching and writing about it. Dani deals with her injuries by staying quiet and allowing others to speak for her, even when the words are not in line with her thoughts.

Thank you to Elly Swartz and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this upcoming book. My excitement for this book's arrival was warranted. Elly Swartz manages to intertwine so many heartfelt moments into this story. Some will be curious about the baseball story of a young girl making a previously all-boy school team. Others will be curious about the friendship story. All of them will find truth of their own at the center of this story. Elly Swartz is able to write from her heart to the heart of her readers in every book she writes. This book is a gift to us all!

Elly Swartz hit a homerun with this book. Being a teenager is hard, but being a teenager who just got their dream and then had it ripped away from them, well, it's beyond hard. Elly writes about the challenges of middle childhood with friends, families and change in a way that is relatable for all children.
Lifetime friendships take lots of curve balls as you head into middle school and this friendship is no exception. This is a must read!

"Hidden Truths" by Elly Swartz is a compelling tale narrated from the perspectives of Dani and Eric, two inseparable best friends who share a love for donuts, comics, and camping. However, their unbreakable bond faces a sudden twist when a tragic accident befalls them, altering the course of their lives forever. Dani finds herself injured, and Eric grapples with guilt, questioning his actions that might have led to harming his closest friend and jeopardizing their cherished friendship.

Both Dani and Eric are endearing characters, evoking a sense of empathy and encouragement from readers. The novel masterfully unfolds their character arcs and interweaves them with a well-crafted plot, keeping readers engaged throughout. Themes of friendship, forgiveness, resilience in the face of challenges, and the importance of finding and using one's voice are prevalent, making the book a catalyst for meaningful discussions among readers.

I am eagerly anticipating sharing this gripping story with my students, confident that "Hidden Truths" will leave a lasting impact and spark enriching conversations about the profound complexities of relationships and personal growth.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I think this book will be loved by many middle graders, but it wasn't my favorite by this author. I think it was likely because the topic didn't hit as close to home for me as some of her other books. But this would be great to put into the hands of students who are having friendship troubles or living with ADHD.

This is the first Elly Swartz book I have read but it won't be the last! Hidden Truths is such a heartwarming and tender story of friendship, honesty and forgiveness. Dani and Eric take turns through the chapters telling their story. Dani has just made the baseball team as the first girl and pitcher, and she is on cloud nine. Eric is just so happy that Dani is back from baseball camp so they can go camping together before their summer break is over. They are both so excited to get out in nature and spend time together as best friends. On the second day of the trip there is a terrible explosion in their camper and Dani is the only one inside - Eric heroically pulls her to safety but she has some pretty serious injuries. While Dani is healing the hospital, Eric's family is trying to figure out how the explosion happened. Could it be Eric's fault due to his forgetful nature? Could he have caused the injuries that will keep Dani from playing baseball this year? And for Dani there are so many questions - but most important to her is will she be able to live her dream of playing baseball? And can she forgive her best friend? Eric bravely faces what he thinks is the truth and tells Dani how sorry he is, but it doesn't go as well as he had hoped. Can these two friends mend the hurt or is this the turning point in their relationship? Don't want to tell too much since the joy in reading is unwrapping the story on your own. I highly recommend this book and thank NetGalley and Delacorte/Random House Children's for the ARC to read and review.

Beautiful story of forgiveness and friendship. Kids will easily relate to the main characters. This is Elly's best book yet!

Dani has just returned from camp and is super excited to learn she has made the baseball team. Eric, her bff, is excited for her, but realizes it could mean a change in their friendship. As they are navigating through the changes something terrible happens and it seems their friendship may be over. @ellyswartzbooks this was one I couldn’t put down. thanks @netgalley for the chance to review. #mg #mglit #booklove #bookjoy #librarians #librariansofinstagram @penguinrandomhouse

Kids will find this an interesting read, with enough suspense to keep the pages turning, but also lots of space to explore the feelings and changing relationship Dani and Eric experiences.

Dani and Eric are headed to their annual end of the summer camping trip. They are having a good time, when an explosion occurs and injures Dani. She just made the boys baseball team and is determined to get better and play. Eric is afraid he is the cause of the explosion. Will their friendship survive everything that is happening?!

This was a good middle grade book. A lot happens in the book and some of it was a little much. I liked how the chapters alternated between the 2 main characters. Overall, this was a good book.

Can secrets and mistakes destroy a lifelong friendship?
There is so much to dive into in this thoughtful middle grade book.
Look for it this fall.

This middle grade novel does an incredible job dealing with the fallout after a tragic accident (the dog is fine) leaving one friend injured and the other weighed down by guilt. What I found most compelling about this story was the complexity of the theme of "truth" throughout, how there's not only one truth and that knowing the "truth" about something is always incomplete.

One thing I loved about the book was that the characters had intense emotional reactions to the major events of the story, they also had them in response to smaller triggers: a haircut, a found baseball glove, dropped playing cards. This serves an important model for the ongoing nature of grief, shock, anger, and panic that follow a traumatic event and the wax and wane of emotion in the days that follow.

The friendship between the main characters - Eric and Dani - is solid, with no hints of romance or romantic jealousy between them which is refreshing.

Eric's Judaism is mentioned in the book both as an incidental character biographical fact (recognizing that hospital chapel looks a bit like his temple) and as an identity that informs his processing of an incredibly intense event (bargaining with God that he'll do more chores as long as his best friend is okay - also a very age-matched way to cope with fear and grief). This type of representation of a marginalized identity is incredibly important, especially for this age group, to show how much we all have in common even when we check different demographic boxes. There are also indications he may have ADHD (forgetfulness, hyperfocus, difficulty with executive function), which is never explicitly stated but definitely plays into his self-image and eventually empowerment.

In addition to the main plot, there are plenty of ordinary tween problems - new friends with ulterior motives, gossip, sports disappointments, social media, parental support, and lying. While conflict between the adults appears to simmer behind the scenes, the kids are never dragged into it. My favorite thing about this book is that it shows a variety of responses to being wronged, and it validates each and every one of them even when the characters decide they should/could have done better in the moment.

The author has stated that this story took 22 years to tell, and the result is nothing shot of remarkable.

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Dani and Eric are longtime neighbors and friends, even though they have very different interests. Dani is heavily invested in playing baseball, and has finally made the local boys' baseball team, so is very excited. Eric is not coordinated, and prefers more sedentary activities like reading comic books. They are both excited about their annual camping trip, especially since they were not able to go the previous year because of the death of Dani's grandmother, Gigi. Eric's father has gotten a used camper for the trip, along with a remote controlled vehicle that looks like the camper, and the trio take off with Dani's dog Casey for their adventure on Cape Cod. Sadly, the next morning starts with the father out fishing and Eric enjoying the outdoors, but a loud explosion rocks the area and the camper is on fire! Dani is still inside, but Eric braves the flames and rescues her. The two children are taken to the hospital, where the extent of Dani's injuries seems to be excessive. Her leg is broken, and she has severe trauma to her shoulder. Her first thoughts, after realizing that everyone, including the dog, has made it out okay, is that she won't be able to play baseball. Eric's first thought is that perhaps he didn't turn off the stove, and this led to the explosion. This wracks him with guilt and makes it harder for him to visit Dani. While she is in the hospital, she gets a visit from schoolmate Meadow, who is one of the popular kids and is at the hospital because her sister is recuperating from accidentally having her hand slammed in a car door, which has worsened into an infection. The two girls start spending time together. When Eric admits to his parents that he thinks he caused the accident, they hear his concern, but think it is unlikely. Dani and her mother, however, are very upset with him. Meadow capitalizes on this as a way to distance Dani from her long time friend and put her more firmly in her own clutches. Even after the cause of the blaze is determined to come from another source, the two friends are stuck in the loop of their own feelings about the event as well as the way they have interacted. Eric starts hanging out with Rachel, who is interested in investigating the accident as a way to have material for a private school essay, and Meadow and Dani post together on social media, occasionally saying mean things about Eric. While this drives the two further apart, Eric still wants to find out more about the remote control car battery so that accidents like this don't happen to other people. Dani's recuperation is very long, and she mourns the loss of a year of baseball. Will the two friends be able to make amends, both with each other and with themselves?
Strengths: Swartz has investigated other characters facing challenges in books like Dear Student (2022), Give and Take (2019), Smart Cookie (2018) and Finding Perfect (2016) which was one of the first books in the now solid middle grade trend towards book examinging mental health issues. I love that there are supportive families, and that mental health issues are portrayed openly and in constructive ways. The misunderstandings and miscommunications that Eric and Dani have are very realistic, and it was interesting to see how they navigated new relationships when they were missing their former friends. Eric's investigation of the remote control battery added a level of interest to the story, and Dani's longing to return to sports will resonate with many young readers.
Weaknesses: The characters are in fifth grade, and start sixth grade after their summer of trauma, so the way relationships are portrayed in the story might speak mroe strongly to elementary school students. Also, there is a mention in the end notes that Eric has ADHD. Looking back, this made sense, but since most of the book is set during the summer, the symptoms are harder to see, just as they are in real children. It does help explain his insistence that he often forgot things, like turning off the stove. I just didn't pick up on it quickly enough.
What I really think: This is a great choice for readers who liked this author's other works or books like Feldman's The Puttermans are in the House and Tandon's The Way I Say It.

Elly Swartz does not disappoint with Hidden Truths. I have come to just love her stories. I would highly recommend any and all of her stories.

SPOILERS AHOY: This one was....odd? Eric, a nerdy Jewish kid with a history of experiencing bullying, is best friends with Dani, a baseball-obsessive who has struggled with feeling understood since the death of her grandmother and has recently become the first girl to get onto an all-male children's baseball team. Dani's baseball dreams are cut short, however, when she is seriously injured in a fire while sleeping in Eric's family's camper (something Eric physically drags her out of, but apparently no one is that impressed by a pre-teen running into the fire to save a friend). There's a few brief chapters where Eric somewhat inexplicably decides he is at fault for the explosion because he may have left the camper stove on overnight (which, last I checked, would still be an accident) and his parents for some equally inexplicable reason both half go along with the story and allow him to share it with both Dani and Dani's parents. It is quickly revealed that Eric did not, in fact, leave the stove on and the fire was the result of a faulty battery-operated toy. Dani still blames Eric, in part because she is now under the influence of a mean popular girl (because of course every MG novel has to have one of those), and allows her new "friend" to publicly humiliate Eric multiple times. Eric, for his part, becomes friends with his crush only to discover his new friend, while seemingly genuinely interested in Eric, is giving in to pressure from her parents to use Eric's experience as fodder for her private school (and eventually college?) application essays. Ultimately the two friends reunite and are able to get the defective toy recalled. While the story is theoretically about Eric and Dani, indeed every other chapter is narrated by one or the other, the story feels weirdly focused on everyone but them. Dani's sections focus primarily on her new friend while Eric's are regularly handed over to tertiary characters. As a result the overall novel feels shallow and somewhat trapped in the chosen narrative structure (a two-narrator story that swaps narrators every chapter). There's also something a bit...icky, I suppose, about the characterization of girls throughout the story. The girls in the story are almost universally selfish (including Dani) while the boys are given more dimension (even Eric's bully is given an excuse for his behavior, as he is revealed to be subject to extreme verbal abuse from his elder brother). While the boys aren't lionized there's something judgemental and unkind about the depiction of middle school girls which feels uncomfortable from a female author.

Dani and Eric are longtime friends until an accident comes between them. Alternating between the two friends who narrate the short chapters, the author does an amazing job of taking the reader into the hearts of both characters. I expect many readers to latch onto this book!