Sixth graders Ashley (Ash) and Maya love being part of their school’s news show, and are ready to step into leadership roles—but a mistake in judgment leads them to air a video of a coach in an embarrassing situation, and they are kicked off the news team entirely. Ash’s rival Harry is promoted to lead anchor.
The girls decide to start their own show, with the help of video editor Brielle. After a few stories of mild interest to the school community, they stumble upon a scoop: Van Ness Media, which provides their school’s software and sponsors its news program, has been collecting and selling student data. The girls dig into the reasons behind the corporation’s moves and work to expose them, even as the company fights back. Author Elissa Brent Weissman weaves in some lessons on online safety and digital privacy while also giving us an exciting tale of investigative journalism.
Ash has two dads, although that is an incidental part of the tale. She is also Jewish, and we see her celebrating Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur with her family and using lessons from the holidays to help her process the effects and ethics of the corporate moves she has uncovered. Some parts of the story feel a little melodramatic, but early middle grade readers should enjoy the spunky-kids-versus-corporation tale.
Ash is White and Jewish; Maya is presumably of South Asian descent, and possibly biracial, based on her last name, Joshi-Zachariah; Brielle’s racial/ethnic identity is not noted in the text, but the cover shows her as Black.
