Gr 4-6–Twelve-year-old Ben is feeling lost when his parents announce they are separating. His workaholic dad is moving to London, and his mom decides to move with Ben from New York City to her hometown of Austin, TX, to stay with his grandmother. Starting over in a new place isn’t easy: shy, quiet Ben struggles to make friends at his new school. To make things worse, his mom starts working at his school as a part-time teacher. One bright spot for Ben is shooting hoops during lunch at the abandoned basketball court, where he befriends the school grounds keeper Sam. To get him more involved at school, Ben’s mom encourages him to be the manager for the basketball team, which is coached by one of his teachers who is also dating his mom. While he works hard at the job, he finds himself being bullied by some of the kids on the team. Meanwhile Ben is struggling to decide whether he should stay in Texas or move to London where his dad has told him there is a special school for American kids. While the pace of the story is slow, the author paints a realistic picture of a family in transition and their nuanced emotions as they figure out a new normal.
VERDICT A moving coming-of-age story that will bring hope to those going through times of transition.
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