Language: G (no swears); Mature Content: PG; Violence: G
BUYING ADVISORY: MS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Zoe (12yo) and Laura have been best friends since they met in first grade and now it's the summer before 7th grade. Zoe spent most of her summer on vacation with her family, but now she is back and plans to finish the summer with Laura by throwing her a surprise birthday party. Unfortunately, Laura has made new friends and planned her own party which Zoe was not invited to attend. Zoe is hurt and surprised, but if she is honest, things were a little off before summer started. Now she is desperate to fix things with Laura, and hopes the first day of school is good. Unfortunately, it ends up being a disaster. What is she going to do? Then she notices a mysterious new app on her phone that seems to be the answer to her problems. It's called Retake and before she thinks twice about it, she clicks on it. Much to her surprise she finds herself back at the end of the year slumber party when things were beginning to change. Zoe knows this is her chance and is determined to fix what went wrong that night and get her best friend back.
I'm sure at some point we all wish for a do-over moment so when Zoe gets her chance, I'm torn between shouting “take it” and cautioning “don't do it, it never turns out the way you hope it will.” Zoe tries so hard and you have to feel for her and her determination to save her friendship, but things don’t always work out and maybe they shouldn’t. She does learn a few things along the way about friendship and growing up. The author does a great job keeping all her story lines straight and keeping the story realistic, and I appreciated that she didn’t paint Laura and her friends as all bad, but also growing up and changing. Nicely done.
Reviewer: RB
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