November 6, 2023
A devastating storm upsets every aspect of sixth grader Temple Baxter’s comforting life, inspiring her to make waves of her own, in this accessible, character-driven drama by Faris (the Gabby Ghost Hunter series). When flooding from a storm displaces her family, Temple is ousted from her private school’s popular clique. Lacking flood insurance to offset renovation costs, the Baxters move in with a neighbor and Temple transfers to public school to save money; at their temporary residence, she’s tasked with babysitting her three-year-old sister while their parents navigate home repairs. To turn “the absolute worst day of her life” around, Temple ambitiously plans a high-profile fundraising concert to benefit her family and others affected by the Moorestown flood—and to show up her former fair-weather friends. But new pals gradually impart lessons about acceptance, openness, and trust that evolve Temple’s self-serving agenda, while missteps—including slipping grades, childcare failures, and a booking error—emphasize the importance of delegation and teamwork. Though the third-person narration occasionally feels distant and some plot points strain credulity, themes of community, resilience, and youth empowerment buoy a sincere tale enriched by Faris’s personal experience as a flood survivor, as discussed in an author’s note. Main characters read as white. Ages 9–13. Agent: Natalie Lakosil, Looking Glass Literary & Media.
January 1, 2024
After a flood upends her neighborhood, 12-year-old Temple Baxter tries to help. When heavy rains threaten the stability of the dam near their home, Temple, her parents, and her 3-year-old sister, Kennedy, are forced to evacuate in the middle of the night. Fortunately, the dam holds, but water spills over the top of it, and their one-story house is flooded up to Temple's mom's knee level. It needs extensive repairs, but the family doesn't have flood insurance. Pulled out of her private school to save money, Temple has to cope with the unexplained enmity of her former classmates and the challenge of making new friends. She also embarks on an ambitious community fundraiser to collect money to help flood victims. Faris' writing is smooth, but she stays at the surface level: The flood and its damage remain in the background, and readers never get a visceral sense of the magnitude of the family's losses; Temple mourns her old bedroom in the abstract, as a place she used to inhabit but not as the repository of a collection of memories or items with emotional impact. The mean girls and annoying-neighbor-who-turns-out-to-be-a-friend feel more like types than fleshed-out people, and the difficulties of putting on a fundraiser dissolve too easily to ring true. Main characters read white. These floodwaters don't run very deep. (Fiction. 8-12)
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February 1, 2024
Gr 4-7-The story of a sixth grader who overcomes adversity by taking charge and helping those in her neighborhood begins with Temple asking to attend a sleepover and her mom denying her request. At this point, readers might expect a typical coming-of-age novel about strict parents and family disagreements. As the book quickly progresses, Temple and her family experience a natural disaster in the form of a home-destroying flash flood. Temple's family relocates first to a hotel and then to their neighbor's house. The tween is dealing with changing schools, mean girls, and feeling left out. She decides to plan a benefit for the flood victims and contacts the news, and then a popular band to make the event successful. At this point in the novel, there is too much going on to keep up with, and the tasks Temple is taking on seem a bit unrealistic. Despite this, the plot is engaging and the book will be helpful for kids who've experienced something similar. VERDICT Recommended for libraries which serve middle school children.-April Crowder
Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 1, 2024
After "a bunch of water ruin[s] her life," all that our twelve-year-old protagonist wants to do is get back to normal. But what does normal look like for "Temple Baxter, flood victim"? It doesn't look like living in temporary quarters for weeks, switching schools, and constantly babysitting her three-year-old sister while her parents work and deal with the extensive repairs on their home. When her former private school friends ghost her, she's further unmoored. A natural organizer, Temple lands on the coping strategy of planning a fundraiser. With the help of neighborhood frenemy Jesse and new friend Asha, whose reframing of "flood victim" as "aquatic adventurer" helps Temple find her footing, she recruits local media, some big-name acts, and (just in time) a venue. With a plot that leans on the "plucky kids save the day with a big show" trope, this could read like a heartwarming feature story on the local news. But Faris elevates it with a keen sensitivity to Temple's emotional development as the tween comes to a maturing sense of her place in her family and community. Her desperate insistence that her parents level with her will strike chords of recognition in readers who are also teetering on the brink of agency. Sincere and heartfelt. Vicky Smith
(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
January 1, 2024
After "a bunch of water ruin�s] her life," all that our twelve-year-old protagonist wants to do is get back to normal. But what does normal look like for "Temple Baxter, flood victim"? It doesn't look like living in temporary quarters for weeks, switching schools, and constantly babysitting her three-year-old sister while her parents work and deal with the extensive repairs on their home. When her former private school friends ghost her, she's further unmoored. A natural organizer, Temple lands on the coping strategy of planning a fundraiser. With the help of neighborhood frenemy Jesse and new friend Asha, whose reframing of "flood victim" as "aquatic adventurer" helps Temple find her footing, she recruits local media, some big-name acts, and (just in time) a venue. With a plot that leans on the "plucky kids save the day with a big show" trope, this could read like a heartwarming feature story on the local news. But Faris elevates it with a keen sensitivity to Temple's emotional development as the tween comes to a maturing sense of her place in her family and community. Her desperate insistence that her parents level with her will strike chords of recognition in readers who are also teetering on the brink of agency. Sincere and heartfelt.
(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)