I liked this one a lot. As progressive as Alex Gino writes, the scene with Mia seemed forced.

I really liked their story focused on friendship and family.

I enjoyed reading this book. You could feel Chris' frustrations and understandings with having to deal with her little sister and grandparents over the summer. The book has great representation of a disabled parent that is not dumbed down for middle grade. At one point Chris even worries that Frank, her mother's partner, might want to leave because Frank has to constantly take care of her mom and them. There is stress and anxieties that Chris deals with in this book that is very well written. I thought it was interesting that the friend Chris makes at her grandparent's was actually imaginary! It was not something I expected but it is something that older children do and I enjoyed her talking about it with her grandma and mom. I liked the brief talks about gender in the book. It was great for Chris to be like at first I thought I was this, but then I realized this, etc. It is brief but found that to be okay as it was not the main part of the book. I loved that the author included a list of all of the books that Chris read at the end! What a great resource for readers! Overall, I thought this was a good story and could sympathize with Chris even though I was the outgoing annoying younger sibling. I will be recommending this book to patrons.

Thank you to NetGalley for the E-ARC. I am looking forward to recommending this title for middle grade patrons in my library, and I love the inclusion of an inclusive book list for middle grade readers at the end of the book! If I were a beta reader or editor I might have suggested keeping the gender conversation(s) to be between Chris, her stepparent Frank, and her sister as a way to introduce new terms and concepts of gender for young readers. I also am not sure about the use of a "community only term" (butch) for this audience. But representation is important and young readers can only learn to understand the world if they are able to see it in their lives, in person, in print, or in media. I hope that most young people don't try quite so hard to exclude and show hate toward their siblings as Chris does, but many will relate to the struggle of being asked to tag along to events that they don't enjoy or being expected to entertain younger siblings when they are hoping for quiet. I loved that the creation of an imaginary friend, even in an older child, was not treated as a symptom of mental illness or neurodivergence, but simply as a creative way for a young person to deal with stress and lonliness. Excellent disability rep without sugar-coating chronic conditions and how they affect the whole family. 3.5 stars rounded up