Justine Manzano Do you know what the best thing about being an author is after seeing your book published and hearing people say wonderful things about it? Watching your author friends succeed. I met Jessica Lewis during the first ever Writer In Motion event, where she was assigned to #TeamJustine. A Twitter chat was started to support and coordinate all participants in the event, and while people have come and gone from the chat, it remains active over two years later.
I loved Jessica’s work when we worked together. So when she announced she would be releasing a middle grade book under a pen name, I put in my preorder. Then I forgot I put in my preorder and put in another one. Whoops. But I don’t feel bad about it at all. Here’s my author’s take on Meow or Never by Jazz Taylor. (I asked her if it was cool to share her real name, promise.)
Book Summary:
Avery Williams can sing, but that doesn’t mean she can sing in front of people. She likes to stay backstage at her new school, which is where, to her surprise, she finds a cat tucked away into a nook. Avery names the stray Phantom and visits any time she’s feeling stressed (which is a lot these days).
As she sings to Phantom one day, her crush, Nic, overhears her and ropes Avery into auditioning for the school’s musical. Despite her nerves, Avery lands the lead role!
She knows she should be excited, but mostly Avery is terrified. Can Phantom help her through her stage fright? And what will happen if anyone finds out about her secret pet?
What I Enjoyed:
This book had three things I love–well drawn female characters, musical theater, and cats! It has lesbian rep and anxiety rep that feels exactly as it should in a middle grade book–taken as something that didn’t need to be explained, but were just facts of life. Some girls like other girls. Some girls have anxiety. While, yes, we struggle with Avery as she tries to get control of her anxiety, anxiety is never viewed as shocking to the people around her.
Another thing I loved about this story is that every character gets their own arc, even the minor ones. I mean yes, there are some people who are just background, but Avery, the girl she likes, the script writer she befriends, her father, her brother, hell, even Phantom the cat, gets a story arc that makes sense and enriches the tale as a whole. It’s touching, and each of these characters have endearing, but very different personalities (the brother, in particular, is such a big brother, and I say this as a baby sister myself).
The resolution to the story is well-crafted as well, and nobody gets the easy out here. Things are resolved, but not everything is perfect. It’s real. Anxiety is not that easy to solve, and I loved the fact that Avery didn’t just get better. That it took the character work to get to where she got, and that she still didn’t get “cured.”
This is a book I’m handing to my son, who has long since been diagnosed with anxiety, because I think he’ll be able to relate to Avery, and that’s important to have in middle grade novels.
What I’d Avoid: Honestly, nothing to speak of. No criticisms for this book. Although I will say I don’t think I could ever write middle grade. It’s too wholesome, even when it’s not simple, and I have a hard time getting my head to that age level, even though I’m able to relate to other writer’s renditions of that age group. So yes, it’s wonderful. For me as a writer, I don’t think I could do it, but I applaud those that do.
What I Can Learn From It: Middle grade allows for a lot of really solid emotional connection and deeper psychological struggles than I realized. Between this book and a couple my son and I have beta-read from a certain critique partner of mine, *cough* Maria Tureaud *cough* I’ve recently realized the full gamut of the emotional spectrum that one can take on in a middle grade book. I mean, I knew middle grade children dealt with a lot, but I wasn’t convinced books could cover all of that without being censored as being considered too old for the kids by publishing companies. But, as I’ve learned, it’s all in the way it is presented.
Would I Recommend It: Absolutely. This book was heartfelt and sweet, and I loved every character but two, but you weren’t supposed to like them. I can’t wait to read more from Jazz Taylor, and for that matter, I can’t wait to take a look at her upcoming YA release, Bad Witch Burning, which is released under the name Jessica Lewis. If she does MG this well, I can’t wait to see what she can do in my staple genre. It’s already been pre-ordered and you can preorder it too.