Tag Archives: self-discovery

MMGM Review: From the Desk of Lizzie Lazowski by Melody J. Bremen

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From the Desk of Lizzie Lazowski by Melanie Bremen

From the Desk of Lizzie Lazowski
Melody J. Bremen
Published August 20, 2024

Amazon | Goodreads

About From the Desk of Lizzie Lazowski

When 8th grader Lizzie Lazowski receives a pen pal assignment, she puts her letter into a bottle and throws it into the ocean. A few days later, she receives an anonymous response in her mailbox. She continues to write to her mystery pen pal, answering prompts like what’s your favorite food (milkshakes), and who is your best friend (she doesn’t have one at the moment).

Through her letters, she tells about her biggest dream: to secure a spot at Northcrest High School for the Arts. If she submits a creative project—a true story about one person—she can win a scholarship. And Chloe, the new girl at school, just might be the one to help her complete the project (and maybe even fill the best friend role).

As the deadline for the scholarship draws near, her project flops and her budding friendship goes horribly wrong. All she has is the help of a mystery pen pal to put her life back on track.

This companion novel to The Boy Who Painted the World delivers a story about friendship, forgiveness, and self-discovery.

My Review

I really enjoyed this one. The story is told through emails between thirteen-year-old Lizzie and an anonymous pen pal as well as text message conversations and video transcripts. This made it seem like the story moved pretty quickly. The letters remain mostly pretty short, and they’re filled with funny moments and quippy phrases.

We learn that Lizzie’s pen pal (an adult) has permission from Lizzie’s mom to correspond with her, but until the end of the book, Lizzie doesn’t know the identity of her mystery friend. She learns a lot through the messages back and forth. Sometimes just writing out her thoughts helps her sort through how she feels, which I found pretty relatable! Haha.

Lizzie’s mom has been in a long-term relationship, and Lizzie’s feelings about the relationship and possible changes to her family also drive some of the story. She has pretty mixed feelings, which I also found realistic and understandable.

If you like stories about intergenerational friendships and unexpected connections, I definitely recommend this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Major characters are white. One character is disabled after having had polio as a child. Lizzie’s dad died while serving in the military when Lizzie was three. Lizzie is a cancer survivor.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

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.

Review: Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie

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Ophelia After All
Racquel Marie
Feiwel & Friends
Published February 8, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Ophelia After All

A teen girl navigates friendship drama, the end of high school, and discovering her queerness in Ophelia After All, a hilarious and heartfelt contemporary YA debut by author Racquel Marie.

Ophelia Rojas knows what she likes: her best friends, Cuban food, rose-gardening, and boys – way too many boys. Her friends and parents make fun of her endless stream of crushes, but Ophelia is a romantic at heart. She couldn’t change, even if she wanted to.

So when she finds herself thinking more about cute, quiet Talia Sanchez than the loss of a perfect prom with her ex-boyfriend, seeds of doubt take root in Ophelia’s firm image of herself. Add to that the impending end of high school and the fracturing of her once-solid friend group, and things are spiraling a little out of control. But the course of love–and sexuality–never did run smooth. As her secrets begin to unravel, Ophelia must make a choice between clinging to the fantasy version of herself she’s always imagined or upending everyone’s expectations to rediscover who she really is, after all.

My Review

I don’t think I’ve ever read a debut so wise as this one. While Ophelia is herself a romantic, her story doesn’t truly center around a romantic relationship. It explores romantic feelings– both hers and some of her friends’. But the story truly shines as one of self-discovery. Ophelia wrestles with her own expectations for herself and the challenges of navigating close relationships as those expectations or feelings change.

Ophelia has a large and loud friend group, but the relationships aren’t all equally shared. Not only did this feel very real to me, because it’s hard to imagine a homogenously friendly group that size, but it deepened each of those characters because every relationship with Ophelia was individual, and impacted the group differently. It created a lot of tension and opportunity for ripple effects in that tension, which really made the big moments in the book even bigger.

I feel like I spent a long time on the edge of my emotional seat holding my breath and rooting for Ophelia to finally spill her guts and talk about the things she was holding back. I love the scene where things do come out and how wild and dramatic it was. I felt like it was the perfect scene for the story as a whole.

I think readers who enjoyed CAN’T TAKE THAT AWAY by Steven Salvatore or HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE by Dahlia Adler will enjoy this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Ophelia is Latine and white. She has a diverse group of friends. Some are black, Latine, and LGBTQIA+

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Kissing between two girls. Brief reference to sex. Some conversations about asexuality.

Spiritual Content
Reference to family members who are homophobic for religious reasons.

Violent Content
Some homophobic comments.

Drug Content
None.

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