Copyright Date:
2024
Edition Date:
2024
Release Date:
11/19/24
Pages:
360 pages
ISBN:
Publisher: 1-368-08100-2 Perma-Bound: 0-8000-7287-1
ISBN 13:
Publisher: 978-1-368-08100-9 Perma-Bound: 978-0-8000-7287-2
Dewey:
Fic
LCCN:
2024009987
Dimensions:
21 cm.
Language:
English
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews
In this follow-up to the 2022 series opener, a Black teen struggles with anxiety while she's away from home at a Georgia boarding schoolAfter Avielle and her sister, Belle, were physically attacked by Belle's ex-boyfriend, their father declared a Summer of Survival Instincts for the entire family. In addition to boxing, Avi took weightlifting, driving, and self-defense courses. Now, after what she thinks of as her "summer of torture," she's eager to return to Briarcliff Prep for sophomore year. As a first-year student, Avi started to discover her independence, but now she's consumed with worry. She experiences panic attacks and night terrors, and she's more forgetful than ever before. Plus her relationships with both Quincy, her ex, and her best friends are in trouble. But Avi has an idea for a student lifestyle magazine unique to the experience of students at Historically Black Boarding Schools, a project that she hopes will be a creative outlet not just for herself but for all the girls at Briarcliff as well as students at Preston, the boys' school next door. When the pressure of juggling everything gets to be too much, Avi is diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and must decide if medication is the right choice for her. The book's major strength is in how mental health care is portrayed: Peppins thoughtfully unpacks stigmas around medication while also exploring other options, including therapy and grounding techniques.A satisfying series entry with affirming mental health representation. (content note)(Fiction. 14-18)
Amelia Westlake Was Never Here meets an empathetic exploration of anxiety at historically Black boarding school Briarcliff Prep. Love triangles, friendship breakups, and slice-of-student-life are balanced with a thoughtful discussion about mental health, all in a love letter to Black girls.
Avielle LeBeau is beginning her second year at Briarcliff Prep, and she's got big dreams. Top of the list? Starting her own student life magazine and rooming with her besties Rhyon and Zazie. But a housing mix-up splits Avi from her friends—and to make matters worse, she's rooming with her rival, Fallon Walsh, instead.
How does one girl juggle school, a fracturing friendship, living with a mean girl, and getting caught in a potential love triangle between the ex she can't move on from and a friend who’s becoming something more? It's a lot. Made even harder by the panic attacks Avi has been experiencing lately.
If one thing is true about the LeBeau family, it's that they’re always there for each other. But with her older sister Belle away at college and her brothers preoccupied chasing their own dreams, Avi must learn how to find support in new (unlikely) places.
Will Avi finally find her voice? Or will her dreams be drowned out by everyone else?