Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer
Rob and Meagan both have reasons to hate going to school. Rob’s is because of something his father did, and even a year latter all he wants to do is get in and out of school each day. What he has to deal with at home is more than enough. His interactions with everyone just seem too fraught with what happened and he wonders if everyone thinks he knew about it.
Meagan feels alone also, but it is because of something she did. She feels she has only her best friend left and that everyone is still mad at her for her actions and how they impacted others. Neither wants to have a partner for their math project, and as a result, they end up being stuck together. At first it is pretty rocky going, but soon they start to realize they have both misunderstood each other, and perhaps many others too. Can they find some common ground, and maybe help others in the process?
Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer take a look at the idea that we all, in some way, feel that our actions must have huge consequences when sometimes they don’t and vice versa. How do we deal with the guilt of something we did, or how do we move past others perceptions when we actually didn’t do something? It can be complicated, but this is a such a great read and you as a reader will be pulling for both Rob and Meagan to figure it out!
Recommended for grades 8 and up.
her mom) don’t seem to approve of her singing. Her parents are both from South Korea and she knows they both had musical backgrounds. But they don’t do anything with it now in New Jersey. In fact, they own a connivence story – which seems to be about as far from music as they can get. While her brother seems to be fine with playing a sport, her parents would rather she be in orchestra playing a string instrument, like the viola. Which she hates, even if it makes them happy.
hasn’t turned out to be the man of her dreams. And for Savannah, this move is going to be hard, because she likes it here. She is taking Kung Fu classes and loves it. She tries to get along with her mom’s boyfriend, but one night, just before she’s about to head off to Kung Fu class, she gets into a fight with Tim, and he takes her phone after accusing her of back-talking to him. Her mom is at work, so it is hard for Savannah to see how it won’t be just her word against Tim’s. And since they live in his house, she can only guess who her mom will side with.
As the third year anniversary of her school’s mass shooting comes and goes, Lee is forced to relive the horror of that day when her best friend was shot and killed in the same bathroom stall with her. But now she’s hearing rumors that her friend Sarah’s parents are going to be putting out a book about her death. Lee knows the story of how Sarah died took on a life of its own after the shooting. And in that story is a lie. A lie that was repeated so often, it hurt one of the other survivors who was in the bathroom with them. Lee is faced with the dilemma. Is it sometimes just too late to speak up?
Ashley lives in her nice house in the Los Angeles suburbs where the most people worry about is when the wild fires come down and houses burn. Well, that is what people think. But just like most places and with most people, it doesn’t take too long looking under the surface to see issues. Like Ashley’s older sister, Jo. Jo has become a huge source of conversation at their household, and mostly because their parents don’t know what to do with her. Ashley feels like that has taken some of the pressure off of her, but really, how much pressure can be removed considering she’s a young black girl, growing up in Los Angels in 1992?
Emmie used to talk, a lot, according to her family. But maybe having two much older siblings made her stop trying to talk because she couldn’t get a word in edgewise, or maybe when they went away to college and her parents were working so much, she had no one to talk to!In any case, now that she’s in middle school, she doesn’t have much to say…to anyone, except her best friend Brianna. Thankfully they’ve been best friends since kindergarten. If it weren’t for Brianna, who would she talk to? This year though, Brianna is in hardly any of her classes, because she’s in the gifted classes and Emmie, well, isn’t! Still, they are able to have lunch together, thank goodness, and on this day they decide to write love notes to the boys they have been crushing hard on for years. After writing their true love on the notes, it is time to leave, but unfortunately for Emmie, her note goes astray.
A lot can happen on the way home from school. Just ask any of the kids that traverse the 10 blocks around their school – from the “Low Cuts” due to their hair styles to Fatima Moss – who records everything to Bryson Wills – who actually got to stay home from school the next day because of something that happened on the way home from school.
home, but as you are walking her home, something seems off. Or what about finding someone to help you up your game of basketball, only to realize they aren’t all there. Or what happens if you “tease” the wrong woman and she turns out to be a witch.
Six students all walk into a high school, over a week before school is going to start for the year. Each one brings with them a backpack filled with important pieces that make up who they are. Or who they think they are.
