I’ll add this to my classroom library. I don’t have a lot of books with a kid with a chronic illness. My middle schoolers will love the goat, the spunky characters, the sports angle, the competition, the false accusations, and advocating for the school mascot. My kids are just starting to get into activism and finding their voice.

Can I be friends with Jo and Meg?? Truly, what a dynamic duo. I loved spending time with them--the dialogue is so delightfully funny! This story is a fun mystery/heist, but at its core it's about listening to and respecting your body. As someone who had an injury as an adult that sidelined me permanently from my favorite sport, I needed to hear every word that Meg says about respecting her health and finding who she is outside of a single pastime. I was so proud of Meg for standing up to her dad, and I wished that everyone could have a mom like Jo's. This book is just terrific!

Yet again Ali Terese has come out with hit! This book is witty and lighthearted in all the best ways, just like Ted Lasso. One of the things I truly love about her books is that she is always realistic in her solutions these kids face to make real change. It's never a quick solution that makes everyone happy. Instead, she focuses on how real decisions are made, based on monetary factors and how they ultimately benefit the side you are trying to convince to make the change. Thank you to NetGalley and Scholastic for allowing me to read this advance copy of one of my favorite middle grade authors!

Vote for the G. O. A. T. by Ali Terese is phenomenal. It is laugh of loud hilarious!!! The themes of empowering and uplifting others is imperative in today’s day and age. This is a must read for our middle school aged children, teachers, and adults alike! I wish I could reread this all over again for the first time. Until then…. Time for some disco fries! IYKYK.

This was hilarious and I LOVED that there was also the message of taking care of your body and being your own advocate, no matter what age you are. Another W for Ali Terese!

Meg & Jo have to team up to save Babette, the school mascot.
This is such a great book about friendships, family, and middle school.
I loved how they two girls are very different, but with a constant goal to save their goat and create better spaces for the school.
There were great backing characters, and real issues that both girls are trying to overcome.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun kids book and will be a great summer read.

While Meg and Jo's characters were well sketched out with their physical characteristics, inner thoughts, and by way of their interaction with third parties (grannies, love interests, authority figures like the principal) , often found some dialogues were unnecessarily lengthy. There were times when a few short sentences would have sufficed. Unless, middle schoolers really talk that way ?

There's also quite a bit of mini stories within the overall plot that found distracting. Description of the book (which drew me to it) seemed a bit different than read itself.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing | Aladdin, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hilarious middle school mayhem! Jo and Meg are on a mission to save their goat-napped school mascot while also fighting for better goat conditions and fair outdoor opportunities for all students. In this book you'll get: school rivalries, cute crushes, high-tech sleuthing, stealth rescue missions, a spunky grandma, middle school smelliness, principal problems, and a rag-tag team of unlikely friends. At the heart of it all are strong messages of friendship, autonomy, and standing up for just causes. Jo's brother said it best: "You all are like a middle school tornado. Only with justice instead of wind."

Ali Terese has done it again with a winning story full of heart, humor, and hijinks!

Soccer star Meg and fashionista Jo couldn’t be more different. But when they’re brought together by their converging convictions and Babette the goat, they find themselves on a journey of self-discovery and learning what it truly means to be a friend.

In Vote for the G.O.A.T., we get more of what we have come to expect from Ali’s stories: authentic kids, messy friendships, unhinged antics, characters that are both soft and strong, and, of course, unabashed fart jokes. Fans of contemporary humorous friendship stories and goats will love this book!

In this very busy book told through dual points-of-view, Jo, who has juvenile arthritis, and Meg, a soccer player, work together with others to try and find out who goatnapped their school mascot, Babette, a goat. Jo wants to improve conditions for Babette and starts a free Babette plan, if they can find her. When Meg is injured, the doctor wants her heal before soccer in the fall, but her dad keeps pushing her. Meg gets mad. Will she play again? Jo says let’s kidnap Babette back. Who did take the goat, and will they get her back in time for the school’s big Harvest Ball?
Thank you to the publisher for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.