I really liked this grippy book. 11 year old Kammie falls into a well while trying out to be a popular girl. Once trapped she wandered through memories and hallucinations in a strange narrative. I did not have strong feelings of fear or anxiety for the character, despite her being trapped and injured. I also know those mean girls were mean, but I fell like a little urgency to get a girl out of a well would have been a likely response. ( )

Ok, what do I even say about this? The writing is strong, and the thoughtful conclusions that Kammie comes to during her ordeal are pretty excellent. However. And this is a BIG however -- if this is humor, it's very, very dark, and you have to get through the truly horrific bullying to get through to the story. Between the mean girl flashbacks and the incredibly terrifying claustrophobia, I'm not really sure this is a book I can recommend -- some kids like a read with a lot of emotions and difficult topics, so I can see it. I just really didn't enjoy the experience myself.

I'll grant you that it's a great one for perseverance and becoming yourself, but wooo. If you've every been bullied it's not easy to read about.

Advanced reader's copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )

Pudo ser muchísimo mejor ( )

Longing to be one of the popular girls in her new town, Kammie Summers has fallen into a well during a (fake) initiation into their club. Now Kammie’s trapped in the dark, counting the hours, waiting to be rescued. (The Girls have gone for help, haven’t they>As hours pass, Kammie’s real-life predicament mixes with memories of the best and worst moments of her life so far,
including the awful reasons her family moved to this new town in the first place. And as she begins to feel hungry and thirsty and light-headed, Kammie starts to imagine she has company, including a French-speaking coyote and goats that just might be zombies.Karen Rivers has created a unique narrator with an authentic, sympathetic, sharp, funny voice who will have readers laughing and crying and laugh-crying over the course of physically and emotionally suspenseful, utterly believable events.

available on audio; Protagonist is only 11 years old, but best suited for middle school. -