Welcome Back, Maple Mehta-Cohen

It is near the end of fifth grade when Maple gets the worst news of her life. She will be held back. She is devastated. She has long hidden her inability to read from everyone, but it has finally caught up with her. Her two best friends are moving on to sixth grade. When school starts, it’s as if they never knew Maple. And when she is put in a special reading class, she tells one of the kids she is really there to assist the teacher, but lies have a way of catching up with the liar. Maple also decides to crash her former best friend’s birthday party, and it is so much worse than she could have imagined. Everything is spinning out of control.

Kate McGovern seems to be very much in touch with her inner child because the voice in this first-person narrative is pitch-perfect for a girl that age. The story is very compelling and the characters are completely credible. This is a story a lot of young readers will relate to as it is filled with family issues, friendship issues, and learning issues. Don’t miss this wonderful book.