The Hard Kind of Promise

Starred review from June 21, 2010
In this quiet, strongly realistic novel, Willner-Pardo (My Mom and Other Mysteries of the Universe) explores the intricacies of preadolescent social life, where the worst possible thing is to be "weird." Seventh-grader Sarah struggles between her devotion to her longtime best friend Marjorie—who is weird, and doesn't seem to care—and her new, cooler, but not as interesting friends. She loves and admires Marjorie for her idiosyncratic individuality but, acutely aware of social mores, cringes when she sees her through the eyes of other seventh-graders (Marjorie "was still wearing shirts with cartoon characters on them"). Mild and accepting on the outside, Sarah is inwardly obsessed with trying to understand how personality and popularity develop: "If you could just turn out weird for no reason, then maybe you could become weird out of the blue. The idea absolutely terrified her." Sarah matures in a believably clear-eyed manner as she explores a new friendship, discovers a talent for playing poker, and finds unexpected joy in singing in the school choir. Willner-Pardo's avoidance of overblown crises and dramatic climaxes creates a steadily paced, authentic story. Ages 10–up.

August 1, 2010
Grades 5-7 It is common knowledge that cool people do sports; weird people do music. There are lots of rules to becoming popular in seventh grade, but no one explains them to Sarah, and she has a hard time fitting in. One thing she does know is that her longtime best friend, Marjorie, is a loser, with no fashion sense and the weirdest interests. After Sarah joins the choir, she bonds with a new friend, Lizzie, and flirts with cute Robert, and Marjorie gradually fades from the scene, except as a guilt-inducing shadow. True to Sarahs viewpoint, this novel is really the same scenario many times over, but the dialogue is right-on, and readers will recognize the vicious social warfare from the lunchroom to the school bus. Sarahs conflict between popularity and loyalty forms the drama: even though she isnt strong enough to stand up to those who rule the school, she misses Marjorie.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2010

Gr 4-7-Sarah has always found Marjorie's odd behavior entertaining and charming. She never questioned their promise, made at age five, to be best friends forever. Then, in seventh grade, Marjorie's smelly lunches, love of old movies, and insistence that her friend play a big blue alien for her film production project cause Sarah to pull away. When she overhears a classmate call her a loser for hanging out with Marjorie, Sarah begins pursuing new friendships with girls in her choir class. These kids are classic seventh-grade-snarky, yet somehow also endearing. Sarah awkwardly tries to include Marjorie, who refuses to fall into anyone's idea of normal, while simultaneously trying to be popular and become her own person. Sarah's emotional turmoil and guilt over the changing friendship is painfully and realistically portrayed, but gentle humor keeps the story light. The sensitively drawn and satisfying conclusion will have girls nodding their heads with understanding as Sarah struggles with the promise she made years ago. A heartwarming story about life's unexpected lessons, through the eyes of a girl experiencing them for the first time.-Mandy Lawrence, Fowler Middle School, Frisco, TX

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2010
This changing-friendship novel is refreshingly presented without villains or victims. In kindergarten, Sarah and Marjorie promised each other to be best friends "forever." But by seventh grade they have begun to grow apart, much to Sarah's dismay and indeed anguish-even though Sarah is the one moving on. She finds herself wishing that Marjorie was not quite so "weird"-that she would stop suddenly breaking into robotspeak a l kitschy old TV show Lost in Space, stop telling people that she's "a little gassy," and definitely stop wearing Victorian gowns to boy-girl dances. Despite her loyalty to her longtime best friend, Sarah finds herself getting angry "that Marjorie wouldn't just try to be like everyone else, even if it was only in public...that everything changed, whether you wanted it to or not." The novel is about not just loss but discovery, as gradually both Sarah and Marjorie gravitate toward doing what they love (Sarah, singing with her school chorus; Marjorie, making sci-fi films for video production class) and find new sets of friends with whom they have more in common. Still, Willner-Pardo never minimizes the pain of the girls' break. "The ache in Sarah's heart was so piercing that it might have been caused by a dagger. She [was] surprised by the fierceness of her longing, by the way missing someone could hurt so much." A perceptive, poignant novel of middle-school identity and friendship.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2010
In kindergarten, Sarah and Marjorie promised to be best friends "forever." By seventh grade they've begun to grow apart, much to Sarah's dismay--even though she's the one moving on. The novel is about not just loss but discovery, as gradually both girls gravitate toward doing what they love; still, Willner-Pardo never minimizes the pain of the girls' break in this perceptive, poignant novel.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)