The award-winning Nicole Melleby brings us another fun and compassionate tale of a queer middle-grade tween. Brady Mason gets along well enough with the other girls in her New Jersey group home, although she’d rather be playing baseball instead of poring over fashion magazines and celebrity social media feeds like them. When renowned fashion editor Elena Lavigne mentions on television that she placed a daughter for adoption many years ago, however, Brady’s friends see a resemblance between Elena and Brady. They hatch a plan to spread the rumor that Brady is her child.
In an early development that is revealed in the book blurb (so not really a spoiler), it turns out that Brady is in fact Elena’s child, and the friends’ plan helps them connect. Elena, now at a different point in her life, brings Brady back to live with her in her luxurious New York City apartment. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime for Brady, who has been in and out of several foster homes. But Elena is a workaholic with little skill at parenthood and little awareness of who Brady is as a person. The closets of clothes she’s provided for Brady are chic, but too feminine, and not what make Brady comfortable. Mia, the nanny whom Elena hires, is nice enough—but at 12, Brady doesn’t want a nanny. Brady doesn’t fit, either, in the world of the exclusive private school where Elena has enrolled her, and she hates having to be on her best behavior for Elena’s publicity-fueled life. Brady sees herself as “low-class, and messy, and Jersey, and gay.” If Brady and Elena continue to clash like plaids and polka dots, will Elena even want to keep Brady? Is it worth not being herself in order to have a home?
Gradually, though, Brady starts to find a resonance with Mia, who shares her love of sports and introduces her to soccer. Mia is also queer, and gently supports Brady’s own queerness, including Brady’s crush on a new friend. And Brady and Elena slowly begin to understand each other’s feelings and life choices. They will never be the same, but they just might become a family.
While Brady and Elena’s relationship forms the heart of the narrative, Mia also plays a significant role as Brady’s slightly older queer mentor. Mia isn’t an orphan like Brady, but doesn’t see her own family anymore—they’re homophobic—and her part of the story adds yet another facet to how families form and unform.
The book weaves in some mentions of the challenges faced by youth in the foster care system, but the story is less about foster care per se and more about the relationship between an erstwhile foster child and her once-and-future mother. It’s also a gentle love letter to both sports and fashion as channels of self-expression, no matter what one’s gender identity or expression might be.
Melleby makes what could have been a trite wish-fulfillment fantasy into a deeper and more satisfying story of (re-)found family, personal growth, and connection. She’s one of the best around in terms of creating engaging and distinctive characters, and does so again here, thoughtfully exploring their emotions and growth while keeping the narrative moving and often amusing. It’s a highly recommended story that deserves a place on many a tween bookshelf.
Brady, Elena, and Mia read as White. One boy whom Elena meets at her new school is also queer.
