Funny and poignant, You Go First by 2018 Newbery Medalist Erin Entrada Kelly is an engaging exploration of family, spelling, art, bullying, and the ever-complicated world of middle school friendships. Erin Entrada Kelly’s perfectly pitched tween voice will resonate with fans of Kate DiCamillo’s Raymie Nightingale and Thanhha Lai’s Inside Out and Back Again.Twelve-year-old Charlotte Lockard and eleven-year-old Ben Boxer are separated by more...
Details You Go First
| Title | You Go First |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 9780062414182 |
| Author | Erin Entrada Kelly |
| Release Date | Apr 10th, 2018 |
| Publisher | Greenwillow Books |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Childrens, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction |
| Rating |
Reviews You Go First
Thanks to the Kid Lit Exchange network for the review copy of this book - all opinions are my own.This is a quiet book about the power of connections when you are feeling alone - just having ONE person to connect with can be life saving and life changing. Charlotte and Ben are both struggling with friendships and family and their online Scrabble game is what brings them together - I love that Ben picks up the phone to call her to break the cycle ...
Richie’s Picks: YOU GO FIRST by Erin Entrada Kelly, Greenwillow, April 2018, 304p., ISBN: 978-0-06-241-418-2“A gas” -- 1960s slang for having a lot of fun“Ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friendWhen people can be so cold?They’ll hurt you and desert you”--Carole King” (1971)“Charlotte wasn’t sure what happened, but suddenly there were other things to do. There was too much to worry about. Middle school infected her lif...
Over the course of six days two preteens engaged in an online Scrabble game both undergo major life changes. Both Charlotte and Ben are sans friends IRL (that's in real life for the uninitiated.) Both are bright and inquisitive youngsters, sticking out like sore thumbs in a land populated by homogenous middle schoolers. Alternating chapters focus on the scenarios in each child's life. Charlotte's father has been hospitalized following a heart att...
4.5/5 for You Go First! Thx to @erinentrada for sharing this ARC with me. It doesn't come out until April, 2018! I am sharing my copy with the @kidlitexchange network. All opinions are my own._*_*_*_*_*Charlotte and Ben are online scrabble buddies; Charlotte lives near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Ben lives in a small town in Louisiana. Both are gifted students who struggle to make friends and both are having family problems at home. Charlotte'...
nterest Level: [email protected] #partner Thanks to the @kidlitexchange network for the review copy of this book - all opinions are my own.What if you were having all kinds of problems in your home life and at school but you didn't have a best friend to talk to? Or what if you are having all kinds of problems at home and your best friend is one of those problems? This is the problem that Charlotte and Ben are facing. Ben is a very gifted student...
Sweet young middle-school story of two bright, quirky kids undergoing tough times with (mild) family problems and bullying. Very readable and relatable. My only issue with it is that the bullying it portrays is fairly generic...I'm sure there is plenty of the "mean cool popular kids slam your head into a locker and exclude you from their clubs and tell you you're a dork and no one likes you" stuff going on in a lot of schools, still, but I also f...
Charlotte’s dad has a heart attack. Ben’s parents are divorcing. Charlotte may lose her best friend. Ben may run for student council. How does an online scrabble game connect them? Read to find out!
Sometimes in middle school the biggest things and the smallest things end up being the same size to your heart.
You Go FirstBy Erin Entrada KellyThanks to the @kidlitexchange network, @erinentrada and @harpercollinsus for the review copy of this book - all opinions are my own. Charlotte (Lottie Lock) and Ben Boxer are very different. Lottie lives in Pennsylvania and Ben in Louisiana, Lottie is in seventh grade, Ben is in sixth grade. Lottie’s parents are very loving, Ben’s are getting a divorce. However, they do have some things in common. They are the...
I seriously cannot get enough of Erin Entrada Kelly's books! Her books, and writing, just get better and better. This book is about relationships: friends, family, one's self. We have two voices, Ben in Louisiana and Charlotte in Pennsylvania. They aren't close friends, playing online Scrabble against each other with occasional texts and phone calls, but they are there when they need each other. Each has their own set of problems (a sick father a...
I loved Hello, Universe, and I like playing online Scrabble, so I hoped I would like this story, but I felt disappointed, maybe even almost betrayed by it.In Hello, Universe, the various characters were unique and very different from one another. In this novel, the two main characters share qualities and habits, and make similar decisions - to the point that there is no relief from a feeling that things are closing in on them. They also don't hav...
ARC provided by Young Adult Books CentralCharlotte lives near Philadelphia, and Ben lives in Louisiana. They've never met, although they have played online Scrabble together on many occasions. When they both have particularly bad weeks, Ben calls Charlotte, and they actually talk. Having one good friend is helpful to both of them in getting through their weeks. Charlotte's somewhat older father has had a serious heart attack and is in the hospita...
Thank you @kidlitexchange for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own. Charlotte and Ben live in different states and met in an online Scrabble game. Both have a tough time making friends at school and both are dealing with some serious family issues. Charlotte’s dad is in ICU and Ben’s parents just announced that they are divorcing. Their unique friendship helps them work through some emotions and na...
KidLitExchange #partnerThank you to the KidLitExchange network for my review copy of You Go First. All opinions are my own.You go first is a cute middle grade read. It's told through the views of two different characters - Charlotte and Ben. The two do not know each other in real life, but they play Scrabble together online and have become each other's outlets when they need to talk.Charlotte is dealing with a lot. Her dad just had a heart attack...
Kelly does it again, and You Go First is her most ambitious work yet.The novel follows two online friends, Charlotte in Pennsylvania and Ben in Louisiana, as they desperately try to navigate their way through the turmoil of middle school and dive deeper into the circuitry of the human experience. Jam packed with real-world sensibility, keen insight, and “rabbit holes” of fun and information, Kelly beautifully weaves together what it’s like ...
Ben and Charlotte (Lottie) are the kind of kids many tweens will relate to. Friendships are challenging and family life isn’t always stable. Yes, it is the brainy kids feeling like misfits but Kelly gives the right amount of backstory to keep it from cliche. One of my favorite moments was Charlotte’s neighbor explaining why his younger sister the “nerd” is a great person. Lots to discuss here with kids including the online friendship betw...
I received an advance copy of this book through the KidLitExchange program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.I loved both Ben and Charlotte's point of views and if I have children I hope they are as lovely and nerdy as these children. I thought the author did a fantastic job of covering tough issues like mortality, divorce, and bullying without making the whole book serious. I thought this was a fun, quick read overall and...
Told in two voices, the story follows two lonely middle schoolers, one in Pennsylvania and the other in Louisiana, as they negotiate the changing of friendships, parental illness & divorce, gender expectations and the experience of being bullied (by strangers and dear friends). Both protagonists are exceedingly intelligent for their age and find this gift to be both a blessing as well as an embarrassment. They find comfort in their shared online ...
This was cute and sweet, about bullying and friendships and accepting yourself for who you are. I definitely identified with both kids, and the stories seemed so genuine. The content should be perfect for transition to middle school. No language, no sexual content. Thumbs up for that. I’m a little worried it won’t come across super well to the intended audience- the kids talk about Van Gogh and use pretty big words compared to your average in...
I enjoyed this book. I like the alternating voices of Lottie and Ben. I like that hte connection they have through an online scrabble game deepens into more. I also like how friendships end and others begin. A great choice for middle grade readers looking to understand how friendships happen.
i wish this book existed when i was in 5th grade or middle school or whatever. i wish this author were less good at breaking my heart. i wish life had endings that seemed more full of possibility. anyway here we are now.
IMO this author can do no wrong. Another winning middle grade novel with so much heart, that treats contemporary issues without ever feeling heavy handed. Actually gave me chills.
You Go First was a compelling book. I thought that Charlotte and Ben were really realistic characters. The only thing that annoyed me was how they met. Also, I wish the book could have been more resolved because I felt that things exploded and the characters just accepted their fate.