Voice of Youth Advocates (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Lucy, fourth-grade student at Autumn Grove Intermediate School, is excited because today when she kisses Tomand her best friend kisses his best friendbehind the ball shed during recess, it will secure their social position. According to Becky, "You sometimes have to do things you don't want to do" for the sake of popularity, and when you are a dork, "you would do anything" to overcome ostracism. Lucy knows her new ring, delivered moments later, is a real diamond. Over the weekend, Lucy's mom goes into labor, and when Lucy visits at the hospital, she loses track of her ring, noticing only after the family is home. Her parents' distress over the baby's unexpected Down syndrome precludes hunting for the ring and Lucy's dad points out that diamond rings do not turn fingers green. When Lucy returns to school, having missed one day, it takes time for her to realize she is now a social dork.Lucy's confident first-person narration keeps pages turning as she transitions from totally popular to complete dorkdom in the space of one quick kiss. Issues of bullying, friendship, fitting in, and self-assertion are addressed as Lucy and her peers experience them, and as Lucy watches her parentswith her new sisterexperience them. She comes to understand why Becky would "do anything" to be popular but decides against this path; she ultimately forms her own quirkily likeable pack of dorks. Humorous and honest, this should appeal to both female and male readers.Cynthia Winfield.

Kirkus Reviews

Most of the titular gang from Pack of Dorks (2014) is off to spend two weeks at seriously-roughing-it-style Camp Paleo. Sadly, Lucy's not-a-boyfriend, Sam, is going to gymnastics camp instead. That's just the beginning of the bad news. Camp Paleo is hot, buggy, and fraught with emotional peril, as her friends behave in strange, inexplicable new ways. Most troubling is how April, previously, well, dorky, has now entirely "reinvented" herself and also has firmly bonded with the very annoying and unpleasant Kira. As feisty Lucy attempts to steer her friends into what she sees as the right directions for each, every matchmaking strategy backfires until she's alienated almost every camper she cares about. Just as problematic is the fact that valuable personal possessions are going missing, and other campers are starting to think Lucy might be the thief. With good humor, Vrabel explores the pitfalls of emerging preteenhood. Not everyone gets there at the same time, leading to endless potential for humiliation, embarrassment, and, in the case of Sam and Lucy, awkwardness. Although not as clever and satisfying as the dorks' multilayered first outing, this quick read nonetheless effectively delves into interpersonal pitfalls that will be familiar to most older grade schoolers, and Lucy's developing insight may even provide a few hints for staying on the right path. Honest, funny, and entertaining. (Fiction. 8-12)

ALA Booklist

It's a big day for Lucy. She and her best friend, Becky, are going to kiss the boys they like at recess. She can't wait to tell her dad about it when she gets home, but it will have to wait because her pregnant mom has gone into labor! After a couple of days off to welcome baby Molly, she returns to school to find herself suddenly friendless and despised. Becky has turned on her, and Lucy learns what it's like to be an outcast, like dinosaur-obsessed Sheldon, painfully shy Sam, and sneezy April, who picks her nose in public. Her parents, preoccupied with Molly, who has Down syndrome, are no help. Humiliations and cruelties abound as Lucy gradually finds a new pack. Though she has less of a careful hand with Lucy's parents, Vrabel displays a canny understanding of middle-school vulnerability. Like Gennifer Choldenko's Al Capone Does My Shirts (2004) and Siobhan Dowd's The London Eye Mystery (2008), this is a solid pick for siblings of children with special needs.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6 Lucy is the second most popular girl in fourth grade. She maintains her social standing by obsequiously following her "best friend," queen bee Beckyeven when that means succumbing to peer pressure and giving Tom Lemmings a quick kiss during recess. Suddenly, Lucy finds herself being made the butt of jokes and is no longer in her exalted position as a popular kid. When groveling doesn't work, Lucy opens up to spending time with other kids she had previously overlooked and finds herself making some real friends in the process. This book doesn't soft-peddle the strange cruelty that kids inflict on one another, nor does it underestimate the impact. At the same time, it does not wallow unnecessarily. Instead, Lucy finds joy in her new little sister and helps her family gain perspective as they struggle to come to terms with the baby's special needs. The challenging subject matter is handled in a gentle, age-appropriate way with humor and genuine affection. Lucy is likable even when she's not behaving well; just like a real kid. When things work out in the end, it feels as natural as two like-minded kids learning to trust one another. Amelia Jenkins, Juneau Public Library, AK