e-Audio, 07:05:19
Narrated by: Josephine Huang & Cassandra Morris
Release Date: March 5, 2024
Published by: Scholastic, Inc.
Read from: March 21-24, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW:
For Readers Interested In: Realistic Fiction, Social Justice, Feminist Reads, MGThis middle-grade Moxie centering period equity is Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret for the next generation! Helen and Gracie are pranking their way through middle school when a stinky stunt lands them in the front office — again. Because nothing else has curbed their chaos, the principal orders the best friends to do the care about something. So they join the school’s Community Action Club with plans to do as little as humanly possible. But when Helen is caught unprepared by an early period and bleeds through her pants — they were gold lamé! — the girls take over the club’s campaign for maxi pads in bathrooms for all students who menstruate. In the name of period equity, the two friends use everything from over-the-top baked goods to glitter gluing for change. But nothing can prepare them for a clueless school board (ew), an annoying little sister (ugh), and crushes (oh my!). As Helen and Gracie find themselves closer to change and in deeper trouble than ever before, they must decide if they care enough to keep going . . . even if it costs them their friendship.
**this is a prose novel, not a graphic novel**
*MY THOUGHTS*
I remember being late to the party with this one, but I remember adding this to my TBR as soon as I found out the title.This is a feminist story for the ages and I am absolutely thrilled that it is a middle grade book. I remember being in the 6th grade when i first got mine and I was using the absolute wrong thing, but I didn’t know what to do and I felt so awkward asking my mom. I wish I had people who fought for this time of equity in my school bathrooms.
Ok so don’t get me wrong, the main characters were terrible. Like I’m being so for realz these kids were bad as hell. I remember reading it the whole way through and laughing out loud because these giels learned NOTHING even with them “finally understanding the trouble they were in.” They didn’t understand anything because they didn’t learn anything. They acted the same way throughout the whole book. And that made them terrible in my eyes. There was no growth. Granted they’re middle school girls, but at the same time, they should know when they’ve gone too far? They either were acting very young and didn’t know right from wrong or they just didn’t care.
The plot of this is what had me glued to this novel. I loved seeing all the different types of ideas they had to see their plan come to fruition. Like the crochet uterus? Genius. And the toilet paper thing? Yo, I’m 35 years old and I never would have thought about that. And the day that they took it on? lmao I wondered while reading this if Ali did something like this back in her day. Because how in the world do you think of something like that? I couldn’t stop laughing. But to see the impact it had and the ideas they had and the ending, it all came together and I felt like the proud aunt.
I also really liked Ali’s writing style. Since this is a MG she wasn’t really handing out real lessons, even when she was trying to get the girls to find something that they really care about. She waited until the end. I loved this because sometimes when you get preachy you can lose kids. But with this book the preaching is at the end when they’re already invested lol With that in mind, I thought it was more likely to stick.
I hope people read this or meet Ali and take notes on how these girls did what they did. I really want to see if we can make this happen in different places around the world. So with that being said, I made sure I sent this book to the branches in my library system that were making what they call “Care Corners.” In those care corners we’ve put menstrual products and diapers, anything that can help someone in need if they’re caught without something. So this way, we can show that there are people in real life that care just as much as Helen and Gracie.
Overall, I give this
