Where You've Got to Be

August 1, 2022
Eleven-year-old Nolie struggles to cope with changes in her life. Her older sister, Linden, is consumed with her starring role as Marie in a Lincoln Center performance of The Nutcracker. Nolie's parents and even her beloved Grandma cater to Linden's demands, affecting their close-knit family's lives. Nolie's relationship with best friend Jessa is also undergoing radical changes: Nolie has never used her given name, Magnolia, feeling it's not quite right for a Jewish New York City girl, but Jessa now insists on using it and even gives Nolie a list of improvements for being cool and socially accepted. As incidents at school and home escalate, she begins to self-destruct, picking her skin raw and stealing objects that comfort her. The third-person narration delves deeply into Nolie's thoughts and reactions, as readers understand events as she sees them. Because she feels inferior, with no special talents or passions, and has no idea what she's meant to be, Nolie is often muddled, questioning outcomes but unable to act or making matters worse. She wants to ask for help but instead withdraws and lets opportunities pass. A new quirky friend provides fun and thoughtful insights, and Linden, who is dealing with hurtful antisemitism from fellow dancers, forcefully pushes Nolie to confess her thefts and make amends. Nolie's tale is rich with references to her family's history and Judaism. Gertler handles middle-grade angst, family dynamics, and serious issues with candor and compassion. Readers will commiserate and root for this story's sympathetic protagonist. (Fiction. 9-13)

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September 15, 2022
Grades 4-7 Eleven-year-old Nolie, only 14 months younger than her 13-year-old sister, Linden, feels the gap between them growing daily. Focused on her dream of a professional dance career, Linden acts increasingly like an adult. Meanwhile, Nolie is having trouble adjusting to sixth grade without the security of her longtime friendship with Jessa, who is drifting toward the popular girls while making tactless suggestions about how Nolie can improve herself. After Linden is cast as the lead child in the Lincoln Center production of The Nutcracker, tension builds at home, and Nolie starts taking things that don't belong to her. Linden tries to help, but it's their wise, Jewish grandmother who understands Nolie best and helps her find a way forward. Gertler uses the New York City setting effectively as a distinctive backdrop for the action in this well-developed story of tween friends and siblings growing apart and either going their separate ways or bridging the gap to become close again. Nolie's engaging first-person narrative captures the distress of a tween pressured to grow up before she's ready.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2022
Eleven-year-old Nolie feels adrift. Her older sister, Linden, who is preparing both to dance the role of Marie in The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center and for her bat mitzvah service, commands the bulk of the family's time and attention. Best friend Jessa's insistence that Nolie change to fit in with their peers leaves Nolie feeling equally isolated, and she begins processing her worries by picking at the skin on her thumb and stealing objects that make her feel better. The third-person narration makes Nolie's sense of loss and rejection palpable but also provides insight into the potential strength of her character. The plot offers revealing glimpses into the situations of the well-drawn and complex supporting characters as well, from Jessa's struggles with the loss of her grandmother to the pressure and antisemitism Linden faces in her high-profile role, which allows readers to feel the empathy that Nolie cannot yet find. Buoyed by the confidence of a new friend and the tough, practical guidance Linden gives upon discovering the stolen objects, Nolie begins to take responsibility for herself and her actions, and that leads her to the help she needs from her family and the confidence to start fresh. This raw story of growing up is also full of the strength, history, and warmth of a close-knit Jewish family living in Manhattan. Julie Roach

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)