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Reviewed by: Ashley Poulin, Elementary School Librarian Title: Those Kids from Fawn Creek Author: Erin Entrada Kelly Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Year: 2022 Good for Grades: 5-8 Genre/Type of Book: Realistic Fiction/Chapter Book
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: A character's mother is in jail, and other characters referring to the mom as a "junkie prostitute" Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: I chose this book because it was highly reviewed for my age group, and from a well known author. If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be: When Orchid Mason moves to Fawn (make that Yawn!) Creek, no one in that sleepy town was prepared for what would happen next.
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Review:
Those Kids from Fawn Creek is about an extremely small school in Fawn Creek, Louisiana. The story centers around the seventh grade class and is told from multiple perspectives. As you can imagine, new students don't often move to a school this tiny (12 kids in 7th grade!) and any new faces are quite exciting. So when Orchid Mason arrives with glamorous tales of living in New York and Paris, she quickly upsets the existing social order and turns heads, in all the right and wrong ways.
She quickly befriends most of the class, but the existing clique of “popular girls” is threatened by her presence, and makes their feelings quite well known. Despite taking place in a small town, there is a diverse cast of characters and an overarching theme of the importance of being true to yourself. I felt it was a realistic portrayal of the middle school experience, both good and bad! The friendships felt genuine, the family drama felt real, and the bullies were intimidating!
Overall, I think this book would be extremely popular with middle school students, although it may need to be book talked a bit, as the title and cover make it look like it’s for a slightly younger audience. It’s reviewed for grades 3-7, but I think it is better suited for grades 5-8.
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