Up for Air

Starred review from March 18, 2019
Debut author Morrison, a former teacher, realistically captures the challenges of middle school—complicated family dynamics, volatile friendships, and first love—in this story about a girl struggling to find where she belongs. Annabelle Wilner has just finished seventh grade at a prestigious academy on Gray Island in New England, where she lives with her mother and doting stepfather. Though a learning disability makes school difficult despite tutoring and extra study sessions, Annabelle finds success on her swim team, where she is bumped up to the high school level. Soon, she attracts the attention of a cute sophomore, and her desire to impress him leads her to risk losing what she holds dear: her two best friends, her relationship with her stepdad, and her scholarship to the academy. When an injury keeps Annabelle from swimming, she finds herself drowning in insecurity, culminating in a disastrous attempt to reconnect with her father. Annabelle is both innocent and rebellious, creating an inconsistency that feels genuine for her age group, and her worries about doing well in school and fitting in socially are palpable. By avoiding a picture-perfect ending, Morrison stays true to the maddeningly uncertain years of middle school, depicting all of its in-between-ness with spot-on accuracy. Ages 10–14. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties.

March 1, 2019

Gr 5-7-Annabelle is the fastest on her middle school summer swim team, where she knows her place in the world. That is not always the case in other parts of her life. She feels mediocre at private school, and cannot quite connect with her wealthy classmates. Despite her hours of studying and extra tutoring, Annabelle cannot focus during her tests (even with her extra time), and worries that she is a disappointment to her mother and stepfather. But this summer will be wonderful-she plans to swim and spend time with her two best friends, Mia and Jeremy. However, middle school friendships have a habit of changing before everyone is ready: the easy competition between her and Mia takes on a less friendly nature, and Jeremy is going away to nerd camp for a whole month. Still, there are things for Annabelle to look forward to: being invited to swim with the high school team, making older friends, and Conner, an older boy who actually seems interested in her. As Annabelle tries to impress them, she begins to alienate Jeremy and Mia and makes a series of poor decisions. Eventually, Annabelle learns that her parents consider her more amazing than she knew, and that boys' attention is not always genuine. At the surface, this story may be typical, but it does an excellent job in creating relatable problems and characters. Annabelle's fears of being on the outside of friendships and school circles are likely the fears of many young readers. VERDICT A sweet and entertaining novel that offers deeper themes to ponder.-Patricia Feriano, Montgomery County Public Schools, MD

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2019
An awesome swimmer with a frustrating learning disability struggles in the roiling waters of adolescence.Annabelle, 13, is relieved to put seventh grade behind her. Despite tutoring and accommodation for completing tests, she remains a C student at the academically rigorous boarding school she attends as a scholarship day student. With boarders gone, she looks forward to hanging out with classmates Mia and Jeremy, whose families, like hers, are year-round residents on their New England island (which seems to have a largely white population). They're top students, but in summer Annabelle is the confident, focused star of their swim team. Thrilled to be invited onto the high school team, she shrugs off her mom's conditions, including summer tutoring. After a rocky start, Annabelle keeps up with her older teammates. Out of the pool, it's another matter. Crushing on flirtatious Connor, Annabelle blows off tutoring and strains her friendship with Jeremy; her friendship with Mia has become an uncomfortable competition. When Annabelle's misdeeds disappoint not only her mom, but her stepdad, whose pride in her swimming is crucial to Annabelle's self-esteem, she turns to her dad. She remembers his failures, but right now, their similarities might matter more. Annabelle has a lot on her plate. Readers will root for her as she ricochets between ebullience and despair, empathy and hurt, confidence and doubt, pride and self-loathing--we've been there, too, or soon will be.Captures the turmoil of adolescence with wisdom and humor in near-pointillist detail. (Fiction. 10-14)

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April 15, 2019
Grades 5-8 Seventh-grader Annabelle is a great swimmer but, because of learning difficulties, not such a great student. But swimming is where she bonds with her stepdad, makes her mother proud, and finds friends like Mia and Jeremy. Then Annabelle is asked to take a spot on the high-school swim team and things change. Hanging out with an older crowd makes her feel better and worse about herself, and the interest the handsome Connor shows in her is both confusing and delightful. To add to her summer angst, she gets a letter from her dad, who is now living in nearby Boston after being out of her life for a long while. Lots of readers will relate to Annabelle?if not with the specifics of her life, then with the feelings of an almost-teen as she navigates growing up. The well-crafted characters extend to the adults in the story, who are multilayered and have lives beyond their relationship with their daughter. Best of all, Annabelle's realizations about her life are hard won and wholly believable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2019
Annabelle is relieved to be finished with seventh grade. An academically struggling scholarship day student, she doesn't fit in at her fancy island boarding school. Swimming, on the other hand, comes easily to Annabelle--but even that becomes complicated when she is recruited for the high-school swim team. In this fast-moving, believable story, likable Annabelle must navigate shifting friendships, the attention of an older boy, and her long-absent father's reentry in her life.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)