September 2, 2024
Now that they’re in different sixth grade classes, Desdemona “Dee” Hiller worries about her friendship with bestie Juniper, who’s grown distant following an embarrassing incident involving Dee’s mother. While hiding in the bathroom during “snack and stretch” time, counting beige tiles and thinking about Juniper, Dee is interrupted by a noise coming from the grate: her classmate Harry, upset about his father, is kicking the grate in the boys’ bathroom. The two start talking through the opening, and Dee offers support and a listening ear. Demand for Dee’s impromptu therapy sessions soon spreads throughout the school, and as she begins helping other kids, she realizes that she has “no room to feel lonely,” despite still longing to reconnect with Juniper. When Dee starts receiving notes from an anonymous admirer, she wonders if it’s Juniper trying to mend their friendship, prompting Dee to uncover the identity of the sender. A persuasive blend of observant and oblivious stream-of-consciousness riffs punctuates Dee’s first-person narration, throughout which debut author Thayer explores summarily developed school-based elements and subplots. Juniper, Dee, and Harry read as white. Ages 10–up. Agent: Alexander Slater, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc.
September 15, 2024
A socially struggling sixth grader finds herself in the unlikely position of providing counsel to others. After Desdemona Hillman Diller learned that she and her best friend, Juniper, were going to be in different classes, her mom tried to sell it as an opportunity to make new friends. But Dee always felt that Juniper was enough. A subject of mean gossip, Dee now spends her Snack and Stretch breaks hiding in the bathroom. After an unfortunate Parent PE Day during which her mother deeply embarrasses her, Dee flees to the bathroom, where she hears clanging through a vent that connects to the boys' bathroom. Her classmate Harry, who's upset about something his father did, is next door, kicking the grate. After Dee consoles Harry, he asks if they can meet again the next day. Only it isn't Harry who shows up, but a distressed second grader from the elementary school one floor down who was cruelly teased for a spelling mistake. Soon, Dee is giving advice to schoolmates both younger and older--even as Juniper moves on to new friends, who are unkind to Dee. Debut author Thayer skillfully and authentically captures the often-painful social transitions of middle school. In a satisfying growth arc, quiet, kind Dee comes out of her shell, realizing she's worth more than the judgments of others made her believe. Main characters are cued white. A compassionate window into the awkward and isolating stages of growing up.(Fiction. 10-14)
COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
November 1, 2024
Grades 5-7 It's tough to start sixth grade without your best friend. Dee and Juniper have always had each other for support, but, this year, they've been separated into different homerooms. Juniper has taken up with new friends who think Dee is stinky and weird, and Juniper isn't doing much to change their minds. Taking to hiding in the bathroom, Dee starts to hear voices--but never fear, she's not losing it. The voices belong to other kids hiding from their own problems. When Dee reaches out with advice, it turns out she is pretty good at helping others and develops a following. But where will it lead, and will she be strong enough to keep it up? Thayer's debut novel brings readers to an authentic view of junior high, with its daily drama and moments of discovery. While secondary characters could be more fully fleshed out, this story's appeal is its quirkiness and heart which are sincerely presented. A solid purchase for libraries with a following for authors like Kate DiCamillo and Rebecca Stead.
COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
January 1, 2025
Dee is struggling in sixth grade: she hears other girls gossiping about her appearance, sees her single mom flirting with her gym teacher, and feels like her best friend is ignoring her. Thayer dictates Dee's stream-of-consciousness observations through occasional mental lists that read like free verse ("in the future / stop asking so many questions! / stop talking so much!") and heightened sensory details (her school-bathroom refuge features cool-to-the-touch "wet-noodle" wall tiles and a leaky faucet's refrain of da-wip, da-wip) that define her perceptive, sensitive mindset. Dee finds unexpected comfort in commiserating with classmate Harry through a grate connecting the girls' and boys' bathrooms, and the vent inadvertently turns into a confession booth where students ask for Dee's help coping with their fears. These amateur advice sessions allow her to offer her classmates -- whose problems are mostly mundane and easily fixed -- some of the comfort and direction for which she also longs. Thayer champions the positive impact of Dee's kindness while demonstrating how ignoring her own anxieties only makes helping others more difficult. Most touching is an investigation of the parental impact on a child's views: after witnessing the negative behaviors that her peers inherited from their parents, Dee grows to appreciate her unconventional mother's support and the empathy she's been taught. Emma Shacochis
(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)