The Real Deal

When Gabe’s teacher announces that a new student, Reuben, will be joining the sixth grade class, she mentions that Reuben “doesn’t speak,” igniting curiosity and even scorn among the students. Despite the bad feeling it gives him, Gabe initially laughs along, before checking his gut feeling and beginning to connect with Reuben. Amid Reuben’s arrival—and the addition of Rae, a seventh grader sent to join the class until she makes an apology—Gabe works on persuading his protective mother to let him take a summer backpacking trip with best friend Oliver, who seems to be keeping something from Gabe. As a condition of the trip, Gabe’s mom asks him to join the school’s Nature Club, and the lessons Gabe learns in the club and from the classroom’s new students give him the courage to stand up for what he believes, and to be there for Oliver when he needs Gabe most. Alternating with brief interstitials from Reuben’s perspective, Stoddard (Bea Is for Blended) employs Gabe’s candid and introspective first-person observations, making for a warm narrative of school community and personal growth. Protagonists cue as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Stephen Barbara, InkWell Management. (Oct.)