Kalena Miller

First sentence: "I have sand between my toes." I announce this to the entire car. Nobody replies.

Premise/plot: Mavis Callahan's vacation with her family ends memorably--and not in a good way. Was it a little odd that her mom got a separate ride home from the airport? Maybe. But that is just the teeniest top of the iceberg. Turns out the FBI is investigating her mom for embezzlement. Her mom has evaded arrest so far, but EVERYTHING has changed for the whole family. The family leaves the big city (Chicago, I believe) and seeks refuge in a small town (Somewhere, Illinois). They'll be staying with her aunt--her father's sister. Everyone is making huge adjustments--finding new jobs, making new friends, getting to know their extended family. Mavis doesn't know what to think. Is her mom guilty? innocent? Does she want to hear from her mom? Is she angry? sad? hurt? disappointed? confused? A bit of everything all at once. In this coming of age novel, two preteens start a babysitting business....but there is little cutesy about it.

My thoughts: This isn't the first book I've read--I want to say this year, though perhaps the other was last fall???--that deals with parents committing white collar crimes. There may be a sub-sub-sub-sub-genre trend in the works. This coming of age novel was well written. The characterization was substantive, you really get to know the whole family.… (plus d'informations)

A sensitive portrayal of a young girl’s struggle with OCD and the changing relationship with her best friend.

Shannon in the Spotlight is a new middle-grade novel by author Kalena Miller, and it features a tween struggling with OCD, friendship dramas, and a home life that suddenly feels out of control when her grandmother moves in with her and her mother. The main character, 12-year-old Shannon Carter, has enough on her plate with a sudden increase in the repetitive behaviors symptomatic of her OCD, such as washing her hands and reapplying Chapstick constantly throughout her waking hours. Her anticipation of the wonderful summer ahead, spending time with her two besties on the summer musical, is almost palpable. And her distress and disappointment over how things pan out even more so. The hurt she experiences over Elise’s actions is gut-wrenching, and the girls’ resolution of their troubles is quite emotional. Shannon is one gutsy kid.

The setting within a community theater production of The Sound of Music was fun and full of little bits of theater business and traditions. That world can be all-consuming to its participants, so Elise’s devastation over her audition and subsequent casting as Louisa rather than the prime role of Brigitta was realistic. She’s also twelve and doesn’t handle her disappointment or jealousy over her friend’s good fortune very well. I loved how Grandma Ruby slowly inserted her way into the production and how she and Shannon were able to build a relationship with each other that was separate from the fallout of the rift she had with her own daughter. I also loved the close relationship Shannon shared with her mother.

With its sympathetic and engaging main character, the sensitive portrayal of her struggle with OCD and the changing relationship with her best friend, and the competitive, yet ultimately cooperative, community theater setting, I recommend SHANNON IN THE SPOTLIGHT to middle-grade readers, especially those looking for OCD representation in fiction.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy through TBR and Beyond Book Tours.… (plus d'informations)