You Go First by Erin Entrada Kelly
Release: April 10th 2018
Format: Kindle
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Source: Amazon
You Go First Synopsis:
Twelve-year-old Charlotte Lockard and eleven-year-old Ben Boxer are separated by more than a thousand miles. On the surface, their lives seem vastly different—Charlotte lives near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while Ben is in the small town of Lanester, Louisiana. Charlotte wants to be a geologist and keeps a rock collection in her room. Ben is obsessed with Harry Potter, presidential history, and recycling. But the two have more in common than they think. They’re both highly gifted. They’re both experiencing family turmoil. And they both sit alone at lunch.
Over the course of a week, Charlotte and Ben—online friends connected only by a Scrabble game—will intersect in unexpected ways as they struggle to navigate the turmoil of middle school. You Go First reminds us that no matter how hard it is to keep our heads above troubled water, we never struggle alone.
The acclaimed author of Blackbird Fly, The Land of Forgotten Girls, and Hello, Universe writes with an authentic, humorous, and irresistible voice. This engaging and character-driven story about growing up and finding your place in the world will appeal to fans of Rebecca Stead and Rita Williams-Garcia.
Review:
Initially, I thought this book started off very well. “You go first” deals with a few social issues that adolescent face, like bullying, ostracized and handling parental divorce. The main characters, Ben and Charlotte, are very charming and I was rooting for them to overcome all their obstacles. They are smart, funny and try to cope up with all their problems in a positive manner. As much as I liked reading this book, I eventually found it to be very depressing.
The main reason I was disappointed with this book was because I felt it had no positive outcome. Throughout the book, I liked Ben a lot as he maintains a positive energy even when others bully him in school. However, when Ben faces the horrible incident in the end, he loses all his confidence, and the story never really picks up for him to overcome it. In fact, there is a page towards the end where Ben’s father tells him that bad things just happen to good people for no reason, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. True that this is a harsh face of reality, but I don’t think the author needs to portray it so strongly in a middle grade novel.
Also, I felt that there was not much closure provided, and when the book got over, I thought ‘that’s it?’. People who are coping with similar problems would want to read a book that’s more optimistic to give them hope. The author ends the book in a rather gloomy note that I felt sad for the two towards the end. Personally, I would have loved if this book ended in a happier note where Ben and Charlotte became confident. On a positive note, I enjoyed Erin Kelly’s writing style and would love to read some of her other books. I also enjoyed reading all the trivia and knowledgeable titbits that mentioned in the beginning of each chapter.
Overall, “You Go First” was an interesting book that I felt missed its mark. In fact, it would have been wonderful if it provided a more positive outcome for younger readers.
