Ann Braden

Some people can do their homework. Some people get to have crushes on boys. Some people have other things they've got to do.

Seventh-grader Zoey has her hands full as she takes care of her much younger siblings after school every day while her mom works her shift at the pizza parlor. Not that her mom seems to appreciate it. At least there's Lenny, her mom's boyfriend—they all get to live in his nice, clean trailer.

At school, Zoey tries to stay under the radar. Her only friend Fuchsia has her own issues, and since they're in an entirely different world than the rich kids, it's best if no one notices them.

Zoey thinks how much easier everything would be if she were an octopus: eight arms to do eight things at once. Incredible camouflage ability and steady, unblinking vision. Powerful protective defenses.

Unfortunately, she's not totally invisible, and one of her teachers forces her to join the debate club. Even though Zoey resists participating, debate ultimately leads her to see things in a new way: her mom’s relationship with Lenny, Fuchsia's situation, and her own place in this town of people who think they're better than her. Can Zoey find the courage to speak up, even if it means risking the most stable home she's ever had?… (meer)

Zoey, a seventh grade student, wants so badly to be an octopus. Even though she's only in seventh grade, she does not have enough time in the day to juggle all of the events going on in her life. Between getting caught up on school work, dealing with a poverty-stricken home, an abusive step dad, and trying to be a pre-teen girl, she can't do it all with her two human arms. Things change when Ms. Rochambeau volunteers (voluntells) Zoey to join the debate team. Zoey is cont confident enough to actually participate in the debate team, but she learns a lot about life- specifically hers. Zoey uses her newly found debate skills to convince her mom to leave her abusive boyfriend, and support their family without him.… (meer)

Agnes is a deeply thoughtful and creative girl who lives with her mother, who is under the thumb of her conservative boss. Agnes and her best friend Mo write "shopping cart stories" together, but when Agnes helps her neighbor Gracy rescue an opossum playing dead in the road, she becomes interested in the opossum's point of view instead, and Gracy, an anthropologist, helps Agnes see the world in a new way and start to ask some big questions. Agnes puts that questioning to work in the confirmation class in her church, which her mom's boss' daughter Miranda also attends. When Agnes wears a "GOD IS A WOMAN" tank top - a gift from Mo - to school and gets in trouble, she thinks it was Miranda who reported her. But Agnes, Tya, and Jaclyn open up a real discussion with Miranda about their ideas of God, and help her stand up to her father.

An excellent story of thoughtful activism; Gracy is a wonderful guide for Agnes, and Agnes' mother supports her as well.

See also: Revenge of the Red Club

Quotes

What does it mean when a religion tells you a girl's most saintly act was to die? (18)

But it doesn't feel good just going along with stuff I'm not okay with. (22)

"What are you supposed to do when....When you're supposed to tell the truth, but telling the truth will cause problems?" (27)

"Isn't survival more about your ability to defend yourself against enemies?"
Gracy snorts. "A world history textbook might make you think that, but no species survives if it can't raise healthy babies." (42)

"Always remember...we can never understand the truth about something if we don't wanted what we're missing." (44)

Maybe some people have more power than I do, but that doesn't mean I don't have any. (53)

Why can't God be someone who encourages us to be who we are? (73)

Is faith like that really possible? Faith that comes from within yourself rather than from what people tell you to believe? (76)

"But just because things aren't as bad as they used to be doesn't mean you can't expect them to be better. The only way change happens is if we keep pushing for it year after year. Unraveling centuries of misguided assumptions takes lots of work." (105)

"How are you supposed to change when you're surrounded by people who don't want anything to change?" (125)

"Change is a long process. That defensiveness we feel when we're forced to see things in a new way? That feeling is the waking." (127)

Who benefits from us bottling up our thoughts?
"But at least when you question stuff aloud, it lets other people know they're not alone." (Jaclyn, 130)

"I don't picture a specific thing. I've just always done what my grandmother does. In my head, I replace the word God with the word love." (Tya, 131)

"The little things matter." (Tya to Miranda, 141)

Because sometimes you need to let yourself feel anger to remind yourself that things shouldn't stay the way they are. (146)

"Sometimes it takes a while before people are are up for seeing things in a new way." (149)

"You know, when I think of God, I imagine an enormous, invisible fabric connecting everyone, the threads weaving through each one of us." (Gracy, 158)… (meer)