ALA Booklist (Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Summers in California with her dad are the highlight of 13-year-old Maudie's year. When a wildfire forces Maudie and her dad onto the road, Maudie's mom insists that because Maudie is autistic, she won't be able to handle the disruption of routine and the sensory issues. But Maudie is determined not to go home, so she and her dad spend the summer in an old camper by the beach in the town where Maudie's dad grew up. There she meets the locals, including Etta, a famous surfer who gives Maudie surfing lessons in preparation for a competition where Maudie hopes to win money to replace some of what was lost. Maudie feels more at home and accepted than she does with her mom and stepdad. But she's also hiding a dark secret, and as the summer draws to a close, she has to find a way to tell the truth. Any reader who has ever felt different will be able to relate to Maudie's journey to finding her home and her people.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

An autistic girl weathers a summer of changes.Thirteen-year-old Maudie McGinn is desperately looking forward to leaving Houston and spending the summer with her dad in Molinas, California. Unlike Mom, a YouTube influencer who exploits Maudie's autism, Dad doesn't treat her like she's helpless or berate her for having meltdowns or panic attacks. And unlike Ron, her stepfather, he doesn't erupt in rages or leave bruises on her arms. But when a wildfire forces them to evacuate, Maudie and Dad find themselves scraping by in Conwy, Dad's hometown on the Mexican border. It's overwhelming, especially when Maudie's secret burns inside her alongside Mom's and Ron's demeaning words, like incapable and ridiculous. If she tells Dad about Ron's abuse, though, she could be taken from her family altogether; Mom said so. But as Maudie makes friends, including Paddi, a bubbly girl with ADHD, and Etta, an easygoing woman who teaches her to surf, she wonders: Is keeping secrets good? Is she stronger than she thinks? Through Maudie's earnest, occasionally poetic narration, Pla vividly explores the ways that physical and verbal abuse can distort self-perception. Notably, she illustrates how pressure to comply with neurotypical authority figures can complicate self-advocacy. Though Mom's ableism is less firmly addressed than Ron's abuse, Dad, who's also neurodivergent, provides a compassionate counterpoint by consistently reaffirming Maudie's self-worth. Most characters read White; Dad's mom was from Venezuela, and Paddi is cued South Asian.A perceptive, poignant tale of self-discovery. (Fiction. 9-13)

Publishers Weekly (Thu Oct 03 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Autistic 13-year-old Maudie McGinn loves spending summers with her father in his California cabin. But this year, she carries a terrible secret, one that her mother insists Maudie not tell him. But her existing trauma deepens when a wildfire forces Maudie and her father to evacuate and they retreat to the Southern California beach town where Dad grew up. Even amid the challenging situation and her sensory overload, however, she’s happy to be with him instead of her mother and stepfather back in Houston. Maudie soon takes up surfing under the mentorship of an effusive elder and enters an end-of-summer Surf Bash offering a beginner’s prize of cash and a raffle ticket entry to win an RV, surprise gifts that Maudie wants for her father. But fearful feelings surrounding her imminent return to Texas threaten her newfound peace. Pla (The Someday Birds) gradually reveals the physical and verbal abuse Maudie endures in Texas in a way that is appropriately harrowing but never gratuitous. Interstitial poems provide further emotional depth to Maudie’s intimate first-person narrative, fashioning a vulnerable portrait of one girl seeking to empower and redefine herself outside of her personal traumas. Maudie is of white and Venezuelan descent. Ages 10–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties. (July)

School Library Journal (Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Gr 4–6 —Maudie McGinn has been waiting for summer all year, from the minute she had to leave her father in California last summer and go back to live with her mother and stepfather in Texas. Maudie doesn't feel safe in Texas, but between her autism and fear she hasn't been able to tell anyone why. The summer is her safe place. However, just as Maudie and her dad are getting settled in his forest cabin in Northern California, disaster strikes in the form of a sudden massive wildfire that causes them to flee without any of their possessions. Despite her mother's protestations, Maudie is allowed to stay with her father, and they end up living in a campground in a small coastal town near San Diego thanks to the kindness of her father's childhood friend. In their new summer home, Maudie works through the trauma of having to start fresh with none of her belongings and also keep herself entertained while her father attempts to find work every day. Once she finds the beach and the surfing community, however, she is newly determined to learn how to surf and enter a surfing competition to earn money. Standard prose is interwoven with free verse throughout the book, and the narrative shifts from the present day to widening glimpses of Maudie's life and the dangers she faces in Texas. While the plot races along with ample suspense regarding Maudie's safety and the surfing competition, ultimately the tale wraps up hastily and without the slower pacing the solid ending deserves. VERDICT Themes of autism, child abuse, and the impact of wildfires combine for a unique and memorable story that will appeal to middle grade readers open to a creative format and heavier themes.—Kate Olson