MMGM Review: Take It From the Top by Claire Swinarski

Take It From the Top by Claire Swinarski

Take It From the Top
Claire Swinarski
Quill Tree Books
Published November 19, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Take It From the Top

Set at a camp over the course of six summers, this novel dives into the falling-out of two girls from different backgrounds who thought they’d be friends forever. Claire Swinarski, regional indie bestseller of the ALA Notable What Happened to Rachel Riley?, tackles privilege, perspective, and the power of friendship in this page-turning puzzle that readers will devour.

Eowyn Becker has waited all year to attend her sixth summer at Lamplighter Lake Summer Camp. Here, she’s not in the shadow of her Broadway-star older brother; she’s a stellar performer in her own right. Here, the pain of her mom’s death can’t reach her, and she gets to reunite with her best friend, Jules Marrigan—the only person in the world who understands her.

But when she gets to camp, everything seems wrong. The best-friend reunion Eowyn had been dreaming of doesn’t go as planned. Jules will barely even look at Eowyn, let alone talk to her, and Eowyn has no idea why.

Well, maybe she does…

There are two sides to every story, and if you want to understand this one, you’ll need to hear both. Told in a series of alternating chapters that dip back to past summers, the girls’ story will soon reveal how Eowyn and Jules went from being best friends to fierce foils. Can they mend ways before the curtains close on what was supposed to be the best summer of their lives?

My Review

I love summer camp books, so it was a joy to discover this one that came out all the way in November, just when it’s getting cool enough outside to for me (in Florida) to miss the summer again. I’ve been a long-time fan of Swinarski’s books, so that also made me feel pretty confident about reading this one.

Like her other books, Take It From the Top explores complicated grief. For Eowyn, this comes in the form of grief over a lost friendship but also her feelings of isolation an rejection in her family. One of the ways this manifests for her is through pretty intense anxiety on stage. It’s not until a new director comes to camp that an adult seems to notice Eowyn’s struggle and create opportunities to help her.

Jules has been a star at camp for several years, and she feels great about the fact that it’s her talent that have brought her to the top. Learning that she had unexpected help behind-the-scenes calls her self-confidence into question. Even with her abilities, Jules has to work hard because of her family’s financial circumstances and her dad’s disability. She can’t help resenting it when others’ privilege hands them things she has to struggle for.

There Is More Than One Form of Privilege

The story examines some of the different forms of privilege, from financial privilege to the benefits of an emotionally present and supportive family. The narrative alternates between Eowyn and Jule’s perspectives, so we witness their challenges and their versions of the events that led to their friendship crumbling.

The frank exploration of these feelings and circumstances made me think a lot about the expression about not judging others because they fight battles we know nothing about. Each character faced hardships the other couldn’t imagine.

All that makes the story sound like it’s pretty grim. It’s really not! There’s a lot of the fun and joy of summer camp and theater performances. We get to celebrate successes and see some relationships mended or at least end on a hopeful note.

If you’re missing summer days or love summer camp books, I think this is a great one to put on your reading list!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Not a lot of race or other representation details. I think both the main characters are white, though Eowyn is described as tanned with brown hair.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Eowyn has a crush on a boy at camp.

Spiritual Content
Eowyn’s brother makes a brief comment about his mom watching them from Heaven.

Violent Content
References to the death of a parent from cancer.

Drug Content
Eowyn’s dad and brother drink wine at a fancy dinner.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle with Greg Pattridge.

About Kasey

Reads things. Writes things. Fluent in sarcasm. Willful optimist. Cat companion, chocolate connoisseur, coffee drinker. There are some who call me Mom.

16 thoughts on “MMGM Review: Take It From the Top by Claire Swinarski

  1. The story being told from different perspectives intrigues me. We so often forget the other person’s concerns when we’re in the midst of our own feelings and troubles. And I’m curious about how the story addresses the issue of privilege. This sounds like a book I’d like.

    1. Yay! I hope you get a chance to read it. I enjoyed those aspects, too. Thanks, Natalie!

  2. Summer camp always sounds a nightmare to me (I guess I am a homebody!) but this book sounds like there is a lot more to it. I love the complexity of the characters and their relationship! Thanks for sharing!

    1. Haha! That makes perfect sense to me. I love to read about it, though. 🙂

  3. mehsi – The Netherlands – Bookblogger * Lover of books * Likes writing bookish posts * Hobbies: Reading (duh), Gaming, Photography, Dancing, Gardening, Baking
    Mehsi says:

    Great review! I do love books about summer camps and don’t mind if they also add some more realistic things to the mix (in this case privilege). And with the cold, I wouldn’t mind going to a summer camp and enjoy the warm weather, maybe a nearby lake to swim, and more.

    1. Thanks, Mehsi! Yes! Summer nights sound really nice right about now. 🙂

    1. Claire Swinarski is one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy the book if you get a chance to check it out!

  4. carolbaldwin – Carol enjoys teaching writing and has presented at many educators' and writing conferences. She has published widely in newspapers and magazines and along with Rebecca Wheeler, co-publishes Talking Story, a newsletter for educators and media specialists. When she isn’t reading, writing, or blogging, you’ll find her walking with friends, golfing, or gardening.
    Carol Baldwin says:

    I’ve heard a lot about this book. I like how you mentioned that there are lots of different types of privilege.

  5. This sounds like such a compelling read, Kasey! I’m really intrigued by the exploration of privilege and the rifts it can create in relationships. Just using myself as an example, I have a lot of visible privileged identities and some less visible marginalized ones. In a relationship that mattered to me in the past, I think the other person resented the privileges that I had that they did not, even though I wished they could have had those things too. I’m glad books like this one are helping young readers explore the layers of this concept. Thank you so much for your thoughtful review, and enjoy your week!

    1. Thank you! Yeah, it made me think back to some of the relationships I had in middle school and some of the conflicts that I didn’t understand at the time. I suspect privilege played a role there. I hope you enjoy your week, too!

    1. It seems like day camps are a lot more popular now than overnight camps, at least where I live. I hadn’t thought about that. Yes!! At first I was like, why a summer camp book in October? But wow it was nice to get a little summer in my life right now, even just in a book!

  6. I also enjoyed this one. The characters and plot pacing had me hooked. Thanks for featuring your review on this week’s MMGM.

    1. Yes! She did such a great job with the timeline, too. Happy MMGM!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *