Publishers Weekly
02/13/2017
Before Gracie Grant was born, her older sister, Bret, was killed in an auto accident. As a result, Gracie’s parents do everything in their power to make sure that Gracie, now 13, is never anything less than happy, a hard standard for Gracie to live up to. Whether at home or at school, Gracie insists that everything is fine, even when it isn’t. Her social world gets complicated when she develops a crush on classmate AJ, who has a crush on Gracie’s best friend Sienna. Gracie helps Sienna send AJ flirty text messages à la Cyrano de Bergerac, and the results create even more drama. Luckily Gracie has Emmett, her other best friend, but then things get complicated with him, too. Vail (Unfriended) skillfully details the politics of middle school, mean girls, first dates, and best friends in this sensitive and funny coming-of-age story. But it’s the storyline revolving around Gracie’s sister and her parents—and the resulting reflection on grief and the risks of loving another person—that leads to the story’s most profound and memorable moments. Ages 11–up. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (Feb.)
From the Publisher
★ "Through her protagonist’s rollicking commentary, Vail captures the anguish and hilarity at the heart of middle school." —The Horn Book, starred review
★ "Vail may be disguised as an adult, but somewhere inside she is hiding a sensitive, confused, hormonal, loving, and intelligent adolescent. Using Cyrano de Bergerac as a model, Vail has created a fast-paced comedy characterizing a teen girl’s growing pains on the journey toward womanhood. Bring a tissue (or a pack), and enjoy." —VOYA, starred review
★ "As per her usual blend of energy, wit, and genuine emotion, Vail has created a story that is at once delightfully gossipy, playfully ironic, and deeply moving." —BCCB, starred review
"Heartwarming, funny, and tender . . . Call it cute, call it clever—Vail fluently captures the spirit of today’s American middle-schoolers." —Booklist
"Hilarious and heartfelt." —Kirkus Reviews
"This tween romance proves that some stories stand the test of time." —School Library Journal
"Vail skillfully details the politics of middle school, mean girls, first dates, and best friends in this sensitive and funny coming-of-age story." —Publishers Weekly
Praise for Rachel Vail's Unfriended:
"Another winner by Rachel Vail. At times laugh-out-loud funny, and other times heartbreaking., Unfriended is the kind of book I wish there were more of: emotionally complex, beautifully written, and impossble to put down. I never wanted it to end." —Meg Cabot
"Rachel Vail should be required reading for all middle-schoolers. Deft and funny, this tale of the doom and drama of friendships played out in a digital universe is pitch-perfect and sheer fun." —Judy Blundell, author of What I Saw and How I Lied
"Rachel Vail's ingenious, humorous, and compassionate storytelling brings her six narrators so fully alive that by the end of her book you cannot imagine ever 'unfriending' any of them." —Mary Pope Osborne, author of the Magic Treehouse books
"With keen insight, Vail reveals the internal struggles with uncertainty and self-doubt that can plague young teens regardless of popularity status. . . With a resolution that is both realistic and hopeful, Vail captures the complexity of middle school social challenges, insightfully addressing the issues of friendships and integrity." —Publishers Weekly
"Vail has a great ear for dialogue, and her characters. . . are well differentiated and realistic." —VOYA
"Vail has always had her finger solidly on the pulse of middle-school social dynamics, with an uncanny ear for young teen dialogue and a real empathy for the wide and awkward range of social and physical development that characterize this age . . . Vail’s considerable fan base alone would justify multiple-copy purchase plans, but the hot-button topic of cyberbullying will further increase requests." —Booklist
"A realistic portrayal of middle school life . . . A solid choice that will ignite meaningful discussion." —School Library Journal
"Vail captures the complexity of middle school social challenges, insightfully addressing the issues of friendships and integrity." —Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal
12/01/2016
Gr 5–8—A modern, multicultural version of Cyrano de Bergerac. Gracie Grant, a tall eighth grader who has a prominent nose and hails from New York City, takes the lead as the Cyrano stand-in. Gracie's best friend, Sienna Reyes, needs help texting the boy who likes her, the handsome AJ Rojanasopondist. Unbeknownst to Gracie and Sienna, AJ gets help in responding to the texts from the witty but vertically challenged Emmett Barnaby. In addition, Gracie is coming to terms with the lifelong effects of losing a sibling. Bret, her sister, died in an accident before Gracie was born. Gracie's parents are understandably a bit overprotective, and she often wonders how her life would be different if Bret had lived. She is also facing the standard middle school angst: Is she pretty enough? Why isn't she as popular as other kids? Will a boy ever like her? The protagonist and her friends represent a variety of middle schoolers: a mean girl, a bullied kid, a sporty kid, a smart kid, the popular group, and outsiders. Yet Vail's portrayals prevent the characters from being mere stereotypes. Even Gracie's parents are fully formed, not the typically clueless adults who populate many books for kids. Readers will see themselves in Gracie and her friends, root for them, and likely figure out who is actually texting whom before the characters do, even if they haven't read the source material. VERDICT This tween romance proves that some stories stand the test of time, even with modernization.—Cindy Wall, Southington Library & Museum, CT
OCTOBER 2017 - AudioFile
Narrator Simone Policano captures the searing self-consciousness and angst of middle school. Featured elements of the story are the awkward first romance and its behind-the-scenes negotiations. In this contemporary retelling of CYRANO DE BERGERAC, eighth-grader Gracie likes AJ, but instead of telling him, she helps her friend Sienna craft admiring texts to him. The story includes other complications such as Gracie’s emotional struggles with the long-ago loss of a sibling. Policano handles the story’s youthful voices realistically—and is spot-on as the likable but painfully awkward, self-conscious Gracie. Policano captures the humor and poignancy in a quirky story that will be enjoyed by a wide audience of listeners. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2016-10-26
What if Cyrano were an eighth-grade girl in the 21st century?Gracie Grant has a crush on popular AJ Rojanasopondist, but AJ likes Gracie's best gal pal, Sienna Reyes. Gracie is a bit jealous upon hearing this news but soon decides sweet and adorable Sienna should be with AJ. The problem: Sienna is so unsure of what to text AJ, Gracie ends up doing it for her. As it turns out, text-AJ has a great sense of humor, one that is oddly absent in real life and is suspiciously like that of Gracie's best guy friend, Emmett Barnaby. Who is really on the other end of the texts? Gracie is fabulously sarcastic and a little neurotic, her first-person narrative thoughts pinging and ponging across the pages. Gracie's world is inhabited by a diverse group: Emmett is half-Filipino, half-Israeli; light-brown-skinned Latina Sienna speaks fluent Spanish; Gracie's classmates are "every combination of race and size," although Gracie herself is evidently white; and the school has a gender-neutral restroom. The sensitive subplot concerning Gracie's deceased older sister weaves in and out of the main plot, never overshadowing it but enhancing it with sincere emotion until the concluding chapters pull everything together. Hilarious and heartfelt. (Fiction. 12-15)
