Forget Me Not

Forget Me Not
by Ellie Terry

From the publisher:
 "A girl with Tourette syndrome starts a new school and tries to hide her quirks in this debut middle-grade novel in verse.

Astronomy-loving Calliope June has Tourette syndrome, so she sometimes makes faces or noises that she doesn't mean to make. When she and her mother move yet again, she tries to hide her TS. But it isn't long before the kids at her new school realize she's different. Only Calli's neighbor, who is also the popular student body president, sees her as she truly is—an interesting person and a good friend. But is he brave enough to take their friendship public? 

As Calli navigates school, she must also face her mother's new relationship and the fact that she might be moving, again, just as she starts to make friends and finally accept her differences."

This novel that combines verse and prose was a sweet, heart-wrenching read. I loved the combination of verse and prose - having Callie's perspective be in verse and Jinsong's in prose made it very easy to hear the different voices. My heart broke for Callie, not only because of the bullying at school, but also the things she had to deal with from her mother. And yet, I understood Jinsong only too well. It takes a very strong, confident person to be able to befriend someone so different, especially when your friends are the ones doing the bullying. I think the students at my school will really love this book because the favorite books right now are ones that deal with kids overcoming difficulties, and they are also loving the novels in verse right now (probably because they are such a quick read and help them out in our 20 Book Challenge). I have several students in mind who I can steer to this book. The only issue I may have had with this book is how the mother and doctor keep telling Callie to try to hide her Tourette's and not tell anyone about it. That doesn't seem very realistic for our day and age.

Areas of concern:
*A mother who has a different boyfriend constantly and moves her daughter from town to town when she breaks up with them. Mothers who put men before their children are disgusting to me.
*A kiss between two 7th graders.
*Bullying and very mean behavior from pretty much everyone at school. Where were the teachers and staff members?

Suggested Ages:
Booklist - Grades 5-8
Publisher's Weekly - Ages 10-13